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OF  THE  WESTERN  BORDER 
HE  EASTERN  COALFIELD. 


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Kentucky  Geological  Survey 

CHARLES  J.  NORWOOD,  Director 


BULLETIN  No.  12. 


Coals  of  the  Lower  Measures 


ALONG  THE 

WESTERN  BORDER  OF  THE  EASTERN  COALFIELD 


By  A.  M.  MILLER 


OFFICE  OF  THE  SURVEY:  LEXINGTON,  KY. 


19  10 


Printed  by  the  Continental  Printing  Company,  Louisville,  Ky. 


CONTENTS 


Pi 

Alpine,  Coal  at  1 

Area  embrace*!  by  the  Report 

Barren  Fork  Coal.  See  Coals. 

Beattyville  Coal  Correlated  with  the  Hudson  Coal  

Beaver  Creek  Coal.  See  Coals. 

Big  Cane  Creek,  Whitley  County i 

Blue  Gem  Coal.  See  Coals. 

Breathitt  Formation  4, 

Buck  Creek,  Whitley  County 

Cane  (or  Caney)  Creek  Drainage,  Whitley  County 

Coals: 

Bacon  Creek,  or  Lower  Blue  Gem  (“No.  5”  of  this  Report) 

Barren  Fork  (“Lee  No.  3”  of  this  Report) 22,  25,  27,  30, 

Beaver  Creek  (“Lee  No.  2”  of  this  Report) 18,21,25,26,27, 

28,  32,  34,  36,  38,  40,  45,  46,  47, 

Blue  Gem  (“No.  6”  of  this  Report) 61, 

Hudson  (“Lee  No.  1”  of  this  Report) 16,  20,  24,  27, 

28,  31,  33,  36,  37,  39,  42,  44,  46,  47,  50, 

Jellico  (“No.  7”  of  this  Report)  62,  77, 

Laurel.  See  Lily. 

Lily  (“No.  4”  of  this  Report) 11,55,57,72,75,76,77,78, 

Lower  Blue  Gem.  See  Bacon  Creek. 

Coals  of  the  Breathitt  Formation: 

Jackson  County  

Laurel  County  

Lee  County  

Owsley  County  : 

Rockcastle  County  

Whitley  County 

Wolfe  County 

Coals  of  the  Lee  Formation : 

Coals  named  

Cumberland  River  and  South  Fork  Regions 


age 

19 

1 

46 

69 

52 

68 

68 

59 

32 

52 

71 

51 

79 

80 

75 

72 

78 

77 

75 

54 

80 

13 

15 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


Coals  of  the  Lee  Formation — Continued: 

Jackson  County  36 

Laurel  County 28 

Lee  County  78 

Menefee  County  ' 51 

North  of  Cumberland  River  in  Pulaski,  Whitley  and  Laurel  Counties 24 

Owsley  County 45,  76 

Rockcastle  County 3'1 

South  Fork  of  the  Cumberland 19 

Whitley  County,  east  of  Cumberland  River 27 

Corbin  Conglomerate  10 

Cumberland  River  and  South  Fork  Regions 15 

Estill  County  44 

Flatwoods  10 

Horse  Lick  Drainage 37 

Jackson  County  36 

Jackson  County,  Coals  of  Breathitt  Formation  in 75 

Jackson  County,  Horse  Lick  Drainage  in 37 

Jackson  County,  Middle  Fork  Drainage  in  39 

Jackson  County,  Station  Camp  Drainage  in 42 

Jellico  Coal.  See  Coals. 

Jellico  Creek  Drainage 57 

Laurel  County,  Coals  of  Breathitt  Formation  in 72 

Laurel  County,  Coals  of  Lee  Formation  in 24,  28 

Lee  County  45,  78 

Lee  County,  Coals  of  Breathitt  Formation  in 78 

Lee  County,  Jellico  Coal  in  79 

Lee  County,  Lily  Coal  in 78 

Lee  Formation  4,  5 

Lee  Formation,  Coals  of 13 

Lee  Coals  North  of  Cumberland  River  in  Pulaski,  Whitley  and  Laurel  Counties  24 

Little  Patterson  Creek  T 68 

Livingston  Conglomerate 10 

Maps,  explanation  of ‘ 5 

Middle  Fork  Drainage  39 

Menefee  County,  Coals  51 

Newman  Limestone  (Ste.  Genevieve  and  St.  Louis) 13,  14 

Owsley  County  . 45,  76 

Owsley  County,  Coals  of  Breathitt  Formation  in 77 


CONTENTS. 


Owsley  County,  Coals  of  Lee  Formation  in 45,  76 

Owsley  County,  Jellico  Coal  in 77 

Owsley  County,  Lily  Coal  in  77 

Patterson  Creek  69 

Pennington  Shale  (Chester)  13,  14 

Pottsville  Formation  5 

Powell  County,  Coals  in 50 

Pulaski  County,  Coals  in  Cumberland  River  Region 16 

Pulaski  County,  Rockcastle  Drainage 25 

Pulaski  and  Whitley  Counties,  Barren  Fork  Seam  South  of  Cumberland 

River  22 

Rockcastle  County,  Coals  of  Breathitt  Formation  in 75 

Rockcastle  County,  Coals  of  Lee  Formation  in 31 

Rockcastle  Drainage  in  Pulaski  County 25 

Rockcastle  Drainage  in  Rockcastle  County 31 

Rockcastle  Group  3 

Rockcastle  Series  , 6 

Roundstone  Creek  Drainage 33 

South  Fork  of  the  Cumberland,  Coals  along 19 

Station  Camp  Drainage  42 

Stratigraphy  2 

Taylor,  L.  N.,  work  of 15 

Trace  Branch  of  Rockcastle  River  36 

Whitley  County,  Barren  Fork  Seam  South  of  Cumberland  River 22 

Whitley  County,  Coals  of  Breathitt  Formation  in 54 

Whitley  County,  Coals  of  Lee  Formation  East  of  Cumberland  River 27 

Whitley  County,  Coals  of  Lee  Formation  North  of  Cumberland  River 24 

Whitley  County,  Jellico  Coal 62 

Whitley  County,  Lily  Coal  57 

Wolfe  County  51,  80 

Wolfe  County,  Coals  of  Breathitt  Formation  in 80 

Wolfe  County,  Coals  of  Lee  Formation  in 51 

Wolfe  County,  Lily  Coal  in 


80 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


To  Ilis  Excellency , Augustus  E.  Willson, 

Governor  of  Kentucky. 

Sir:  This  report  on  the  coals  included  in  the  series  of 

sandstones  and  shales  constituting  what  in  Kentucky  geology 
is  commonly  known  as  the  Conglomerate  Formation,  along 
the  western  border  of  the  Eastern  Coalfield,  was  turned  over 
to  the  then  public  printer  in  1908,  and  it  has  been  in  type 
many  months;  the  reason  for  the  delay  in  putting  it  through 
the  press  is  not  known  by  the  present  writer,  and  the  delay 
has  been  beyond  liis  control. 

Since  it  may  appear  that  the  author  of  the  report  has 
written  in  a critical  spirit  concerning  some  of  the  work  done  by 
his  predecessors  (A.  R.  Crandall  and  G.  M.  Sullivan)  in  the 
region  lie  has  traversed,  as  well  as  elsewhere  in  the  Eastern 
Coalfield,  it  seems  proper  to  say  here  that  for  the  views  ex- 
pressed the  author  alone  is  responsible.  Prof.  Crandall’s 
position  with  reference  to  the  ‘‘Conglomerate  Formation,” 
which  apparently  is  not  fully  understood  by  the  author  of 
this  report,  is  based  on  field-work  that  lias  icarried  him  over 
nearly  all  parts  of  the  Field.  He  has  not  felt  that  sufficient 
information  has  been  obtained  to  warrant  undertaking  de- 
tailed correlations  of  the  conglomerate  sandstones,  or  even 
of  the  shales  and  sandstones  immediately  above  them,  every- 
where throughout  the  Eastern  Field,  though  within  the  last 
two  years  material  progress  toward  correlations  and  sub- 
divisions' of  the  conglomerates  has  been  made. 

It  will  be  noted  that  Prof.  Miller  has  made  quite  an  in- 
novation in  the  system  of  numbering  of  the  coal  beds,  in  that 
his  numbering  begins  with  the  lowest  coal  noted  by  him  in 
the  “Rockcastle  Series”  (“Conglomerate  Formation”)  and 
is  carried  in  continuous  order  up  to  and  including  the  highest 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL,  SURVEY. 


viii 

bed  above  the  conglomerate  formation  seen  by  him.  Accord- 
ing to  this  .system,  Prof.  Miller  designates  as  “No.  4”  what 
has  by  many  been  regarded  as  “No.  1”  according  to  the 
nomenclature  that  Iras  been  in  use  for  many  years  in  the 
Eastern  Coalfield;  while  the  Jellico  seam,  which  for  long  was 
regarded  as  correlating  with  “No.  3”  of  the  type  section, 
is  designated  as  “No.  7.”  In  order  that  confusion  elsewhere 
in  the  Eastern  Coalfield  may  be  avoided,  it  is  to  be  under- 
stood that  Prof.  Miller’s  system  of  numbering  is  only  for  pur- 
poses of  this  report;  it  lias  not  been  adopted  by  the  Survey 
for  wider  application,  nor  will  the  older  'system  of  numbering 
— where  numbers  are  used  at  all — be  materially  changed,  if 
changed  at  all.  Indeed,  it  has  for  some  time  been  plain 
that,  while  numbers  served  very  well  to  designate  the  several 
coal  beds  in  that  northern  part  of  the  Field  first  studied  by 
Prof.  Crandall,  attempts  to  carry  numbers  throughout  the 
Eastern  Coalfield  are  unwise,  while  the  numbering  of  coals 
in  the  conglomerate  series  leads  only  to  confusion;  the  Survey 
is,  therefore,  substituting  names  for  numbers.  (See  Biennial 
Report  of  Progress  for  1908-  ’09,  page  36  let  seq.,  and  Bulletin 
No.  11.)  Fortunately,  Prof.  Miller  has  used  names  as  well 
as  numbers,  lienee  there  is  less  chance  for  confusion  than 
otherwise  would  have  been  the  case. 

Acknowledgments  are  due  Prof.  L.  N.  Taylor  for  assist- 
ance rendered  in  the  examination  of  coals  in  Pulaski  County. 

Very  respectfully, 

Charles  J.  Norwood, 

Director , State  Geological  Survey. 
Lexington,  Ky.,  December  24,  1910. 


THE  LOWER  MEASURES  ALONG  THE  WESTERN  BOR- 
DER OF  THE  EASTERN  COAL  FIELD  SOUTH 
OF  BATH  COUNTY,  KENTUCKY. 


The  area  embraced  in  this  report  lies  mainly  within  the 
limits  of  the  Williamsburg,  London,  Manchester,  Richmond 
and  Beatty ville  Quadrangles  of  the  Federal  Survey,  and  is 
included  in  the  counties  of  Whitley,  Pulaski,  Laurel,  Rock- 
castle, Jackson,  Madison,  Owsley,  Estill,  Lee,  Breathitt, 
Powell,  Wolfe  and  Menefee. 

As  dealing  with  the  geology  and  mineral  resources  of 
portions  of  this  region  may  be  enumerated  the  following  older 
reports  issued  by  the  Kentucky  Geological  Survey:  On  the 

Country  Along  the  Outcrop  Base  Line  of  the  Eastern  Coal 
Field,  by  Joseph  Lesley,  Jr.,  Vol.  4,  Old  Series,  pages  479-488 
(submitted  in  1859,  published  in  1864).  Geology  of  Whitley 
County  and  a Part  of  Pulaski,  by  A.  R.  Crandall,  1885.  Geol- 
ogy of  Menefee  county,  by  A.  R.  Crandall,  1878.  Geology  of 
Parts  of  Jackson  and  Rockcastle  Counties,  by  G.  M.  Sullivan, 
1891.  Geology  of  a Section  from  Near  Campton  to  Mouth 
of  Troublesome  Creek,  by  P.  N.  Moore,  1878.  Also,  the  London 
and  Richmond  Folios,  by  M.  R.  Campbell,  issued  by  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  1898.* 

*A  revised  report  on  Menefee  county,  by  Prof.  Crandall,  and  extracts  from 
Mr.  Moore’s  report  on  the  section  from  near  Campton  to  the  mouth  of  Trouble- 
some creek  are  included  in  Bulletin  No.  10  of  the  present  Survey.  The  other 
reports  of  the  Kentucky  Survey  named  are  out  of  print. — C.  J.  N. 


2 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


STRATIGRAPHY. 

The  j:>revalence  of  pebbles  in  the  sandstone  series  which 
constitute  the  base  of  the  Coal  Measures,  both  in  Eastern 
and  Western  Kentucky  Fields,  has  led  to  the  name  “Con- 
glomerate Measures’ ’ being  applied  to  them.  Owen,  in  his 
report  as  State  Geologist  for  the  years  1858-9,  recognized  a 
conglomerate  member,  and  though  he  realized  it  did  not  lie  ac- 
tually at  the  base  of  the  Coal  Measures,  but  along  the  west- 
ern margin  of  the  Eastern  Field  and  had  4 ‘ sometimes  two  and 
even  three  coal  beds  below  it,”  still  he  identified  it  with  the 
conglomerate  at  the  base  of  the  Coal  Measures  in  his  home 
country,  England,  where  it  was  called  the  “Farewell  Rock,” 
and  refused  to  admit  these  “ sub-conglomeritic  coals”  into 
full  Carboniferous  fellowship.  In  another  connection  he  re- 
fers to  these  measures  below  the  conglomerate  as  the  “False 
Coal  Measures.”  In  accordance  with  his  preconceived  geo- 
logical notions — -a  relic  of  the  teachings  of  Werner — there  was 
to  be  no  place  provided  for  these  coals  in  his  scheme  of  num- 
bering; in  fact  we  are  given  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
discovery  of  these  productive  beds  below  what  by  all  prin- 
ciples of  Wernerian  Geology  should  be  the  “Farewell  Rock,” 
was  a very  unwelcome  fact  to  Owen. 

His  numbering  of  coals,  then,  began  with  the  “first  coal 
above  the  conglomerate,”  and  from  that  day  to  this,  “Number 
One”  and  the  others  that  follow,  up  to  about  twelve,  have  had 
this  significance.  Owen  even  attempted  to  correlate  these  indi- 
vidual seams  specifically  with  those  occurring  in  the  same 
order  in  the  English  Field.  Thus  “No.  1,”  of  Kentucky,  was 
recognized  as  the  equivalant  of  the  “Low  Main  Coal,”  of 
England. 

Crandall  and  Sullivan,  in  their  reports  listed  above,  fol- 
low common  usage  in  applying  the  name  “Conglomerate 
Measures”  and  “Conglomerate  Formation”  to  the  basal  mem- 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


3 


ber  of  the  coal-bearing  strata  of  the  Eastern  Field.  On  ac- 
count of  the  development  of  the  conglomeritic  sandstones 
along  the  Rockcastle  river,  Crandall  suggests  that  the  name 
“Rockcastle  Group”  would  be  an  appropriate  designation 
for  the  series. 

No  attempt  was  made  by  these  men  to  further  sub-divide 
the  formation,  unless  Prof.  Crandall’s  quasi-endorsement  of 
Lesley’s  classification  into  Conglomerate  and  Sub-Conglom- 
erate can  be  taken  as  such  an  attempt.  Mr.  Campbell,  in  his 
London  and  Richmond  Folios,  was  the  first  to  recognize  a dis- 
tinction in  the  Conglomerates  themselves,  and  to  insist  upon 
the  lens-like  character  of  them. 

In  the  southern  part  of  the  field  he  described  a Lower, 
or  Rockcastle  Lentil  separated  by  a shale  interval  from  an 
Upper,  or  Corbin  Lentil.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  field  he 
also  describes  two  lentils,  but  is  not  so  sure  the  lower  is  to 
be  correlated  with  the  Rockcastle. 

Campbell’s  Rockcastle  Lentil  is  Crandall’s  Rockcastle 
Series  in  the  main.  The  latter,  however,  appears  to  have  in- 
cluded the  Corbin  with  the  Rockcastle  whenever  it  showed 
conglomeritic  characters.  In  other  cases  he  mapped  it  with 
the  “Measures  above  the  Conglomerate.” 

Campbell  indentified  the  lower  lentil  as  far  south  as  Mid- 
dle Tennessee  and  traced  it  northward  to  where  it  “abruptly 
terminated  along  a line  which  crosses  Wood  creek  a mile  from 
its  junction  with  Hazel  Patch  creek,  Hawk  creek  in  the  mid- 
dle of  its  course,  and  mouth  of  Line  creek.”  This  in  in 
the  Rockcastle  Drainage.  Eastward  he  identified  it  as  pass- 
ing below  drainage  at  Cumberland  Falls,  and  westward  in 
Pulaski  county,  noted  its  disappearance  before  reaching  Buck 
creek,  though  the  horizon  of  it  is  found  even  west  of  that 
creek. 

The  Lower  Conglomerate  in  the  northern  portion  of  the 
area,  which  Campbell  provisionally  correlates  with  the  Rock- 


4 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


castle,  begins  abruptly  on  the  Rockcastle  at  the  mouth  of 
Roundstone,  and  extends  thence  northward,  as  traced  in  ex- 
posures in  the  drainage  of  this  creek,  to  the  head  and  thence 
over  on  to  the  head  waters  of  Silver  creek  in  Madison  county. 

He  noted  how  this  conglomerate  fills  a channel  eroded 
there  some  50  to  60  feet  into  the  St.  Louis  Limestone.  Mr. 
Campbell  also  noted  isolated  patches  of  the  same  formation  in 
the  valley  of  Horse  Lick  creek,  Jackson  county. 

The  Corbin  Lentil  of  Campbell  is  named  by  him  from  Cor- 
bin, a town  in  Whitley  county,  junction  of  the  Cumberland 
Valley  Division  with  the  main  Knoxville  Line  of  the  Louis- 
ville & Nashville  Railroad. 

The  name  is  not  a fortunate  selection,  as  only  the  top  of 
the  formation  is  exposed  in  the  vicinity  of  this  town,  and  it 
does  not  there  exhibit  its  typical  lithological  characters. 
There  are  much  better  exposures  along  the  line  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati Southern  Railroad,  between  Whitley  and  Pine  Knot, 
as  for  in  stance  at  Stearns.  Between  the  latter  station  and 
South  Fork  of  the  Cumberland  River,  along  the  line  of  the 
Coal  and  Lumber  Road  recently  constructed,  there  is  a mag- 
nificent section  of  this  formation  as  well  as  the  whole  con- 
glomerate series. 

It  was  to  this  whole  series  of  shales  with  their  included 
sandstones  and  conglomerations,  considered  as  lenses,  that 
Mr.  Campbell  gave  the  name  “Lee  Formation/ ’ from 
Lee  county,  Va.  He  assigned  a maximum  thickness  of  1,000 
feet  to  this  formation.  Mr.  Campbell  drew  the  line  for  the 
top  of  the  Lee  at  the  top  of  the  Corbin,  or  at  the  horizon  of 
the  latter,  in  case  it  were  absent.  All  the  coal  measures  above 
this  to  an  undefined  upper  limit,  but  with  an  assigned  thick- 
ness of  at  least  550  feet,  Mr.  Campbell  termed  “Breathitt, ” 
from  Breathitt  county,  Kentucky. 

It  has  been  the  customary  practice  of  geologists,  who 
have  studied  the  conglomerate  measures  surrounding  in  out- 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY.  5 

crop  the  Appalachian  Coal  Field,  to  correlate  them  with  the 
Pottsville  of  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Campbell  definitely  states 
that  the  “Lee  is  nearly  equivalent  to  the  Pottsville  of  Penn- 
sylvania, but  that  about  one-quarter  of  the  latter  is  lacking 
from  the  base  and  that  the  top  is  in  the  bed  of  black  shale 
which  overlies  the  Corbin  Conglomerate.  ’ ’ 

He  bases  his  conclusions  on  the  evidence  supplied  by  fos- 
sil plants.  More  recently,  Mr.  Ashley,  in  his  report  on  the 
Measures  of  the  Cumberland  Gap  Field,  has  drawn  the  top 
of  the  Pottsville  far  up  in  the  Series  above  the  conglomerate 
measures,  basing  his  conclusions  also  on  plant  evidence. 

In  this  report  the  terms  Lee  and  Breathitt  will  be  used 
as  defined  by  Campbell. 

The  maps,  A(l),  B(2),  and  0(3),  which  accompany  this 
report,  have  had  indicated  upon  them  the  minute  meridians 
and  lines  of  parallel. 

This  divides  the  whole  area  in  small  unit  areas,  each  in 
extent  one  minute  of  latitude  from  north  to  south  and  one 
minute  of  longitude  from  east  to  west  and  containing  1.06 
square  miles.  By  placing  the  numbers  which  would  desig- 
nate these  minute  meridians  of  longitude  and  parallels  of  lat- 
itude opposite  the  ends  of  the  vertical  and  horizontal  col- 
umns thus  formed  so  that  each  comes  just  east  of  the  merid- 
ian and  south  of  the  parallel  to  which  it  belongs,  this  affords 
a method  of  locating  position  on  the  map,  which  will  be  made 
much  use  of,  especially  in  referring  to  coal  seams. 

Thus,  Map  A 23-59  locates  position  of  McKee  Mine  open- 
ing as  indicated  by  the  X. 

LEE  FORMATION. 

Estimates  as  to  the  thickness  of  shales,  sandstones  and 
conglomerates  which  make  up  this  series  vary  a great  deal. 
Mr.  Campbell  assigned  to  his  Lee  a maximum  thickness  of 
1,000  feet  in  the  southern  part  of  the  area  in  question  and  600 


6 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


feet  in  the  middle  part.  Prof.  Crandall ’s  section  for  the  Con- 
glomerate Measures  in  Whitley  and  Pulaski  counties  shows 
about  450  feet,  but  he  generally  failed  to  recognize  and  include 
the  Corbin  in  his  sections.  Mr.  Louis  Bryant,  a mining  en- 
gineer, who  has  worked  much  in  this  region,  estimates  the 
total  thickness  at  about  900  feet.  The  Series  has  its  maximum 
thickness  in  the  south.  The  northward  thinning,  however,  is 
perhaps  not  so  great  as  has  been  supposed.  The  exaggerated 
notion  has  been  derived  from  observing  the  thinning  out  and 
disappearance  of  individual  lenses  of  conglomerate. 

It  is  not  easy  to  find  continuous  short  sections  of  the 
whole  formation  that  will  permit  of  accurate  measurements 
being  made.  In  the  following  measured  sections,  the  barom- 
eter has  been  the  main  reliance  for  the  determinations. 

1.  From  the  top  of  the  Yellowish  Pennington  Limestone 
near  the  mouth  of  Roaring  Paunch  creek  to  Stearns  Hotel 
within  seventy-five  feet  of  the  top  of  the  Corbin,  in  a distance 
of  three  and  three-quarter  miles  the  interval  as  measured  by 
the  writer  is  480  feet  (825  feet  according  to  Mr.  Bryant.)  A 
well  drilled  near  Pine  Knot,  starting  near  top  of  Corbin, 
struck  the  limestone  at  807  feet. 

2.  In  the  Cumberland  river  region,  near  the  mouth  of 
Mill  creek,  there  is  an  interval  of  500  feet  from  top  of  Penn- 
ington to  top  of  highest  hills  in  vicinity,  which  are  near  or  in 
Corbin. 

3.  From  the  level  of  Rockcastle  river,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Rockcastle  Springs,  to  the  nearest  outcrop  of  Breathitt  on 
the  London  road,  a distance  of  about  6 miles,  the  interval  is 
about  550  feet.  The  river  at  the  Springs  is  not  far  above  the 
top  of  the  Pennington. 

4.  Further  north  there  is  a good  section  exposed  along 
the  line  of  the  Louisville  & Nashville  Railroad  from  the  Rock- 
castle river  at  mouth  of  Hazel  Patch  to  Altamont,  in  a dis- 
tance of  about  6 miles.  Hazel  Patch  Station,  not  over  50 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


7 


feet  above  the  base  of  the  Lee,  has  an  elevation  of  834  A.  T., 
and  Altamont,  at  top  of  Corbin,  has  an  elevation  of  1160,  giv- 
ing a thickness  for  the  Lee  of  about  350  feet. 

5.  The  Rockcastle  river  at  Livingston  is  near  base  of 
the  Lee,  and  the  hill  on  the  east  side  of  Roundstone  creek 
overlooking  the  town  is  capped  by  Corbin.  The  interval  is 
about  350  feet,  so  the  whole  thickness  of  the  formation  here 
could  not  have  been  far  from  400  feet  originally. 

6.  In  the  neighborhood  of  McKee,  Jackson  county,  the 
barometer  gives  400  feet  as  probable  thickness  of  the  Lee. 

7.  On  Contrary  creek,  Lee  county,  the  thickness  of  the 
Lee  is  about  400  feet. 

8.  On  Sinking  creek,  a little  north  of  the  last  section, 
the  thickness  is  350  feet. 

9.  At  the  mouth  of  Lineman  creek,  Lee  county,  a drill 
hole  gives  the  thickness  as  365  feet. 

10.  Near  Natural  Bridge,  Powell  county,  in  the  Red 
River  Drainage,  the  thickness  is  about  300  feet. 

11.  On  the  south  side  of  Red  river,  near  the  mouth  of 
Chimney  Top,  the  thickness  of  the  conglomerate  sandstones 
exposed  is  about  300  feet.  In  this  portion  of  Wolfe  county, 
there  is  a friable  sandstone  at  the  top  very  similar  to  that 
at  the  base  of  the  Corbin  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  Field. 

12.  On  the  north  side  of  Red  river  near  the  mouth  of 
Copperas  creek,  the  thickness  is  about  260  feet. 

13.  On  Gladie  creek  in  C 36-52  the  thickness  is  about 
240  to  270  feet.  (315  feet  according  to  Prof.  Crandall.) 

14.  Near  Frencliburg  in  the  section  exposed  on  the  old 
State  road  in  C 38-57  the  thickness  is  about  210  feet. 

15.  Not  far  from  Scranton  in  the  extreme  northeastern 
corner  of  the  Beatty ville  Quadrangle  the  thickness  is  about 
250  feet. 

The  Rockcastle  Series. — Where  best  developed  along  the 
lower  Rockcastle  river,  this  formation  consists  of  three  prom- 


8 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


inent  sandstone  members  or  lenses,  separated  by  intervals  of 
sliale.  Of  these  sandstones  the  lowest  is  most  massive,  con- 
glomeritic  and  insistent.  It  is  the  ledge  over  which  the 
river  drops  at  Cumberland  Falls.  This  lens  has  been  called 
the  “Big  Conglomerate.”  The  pebbles  in  the  conglomeritic 
portions  are  of  clear  glassy  quartz  and  generally  of  good  size — 
from  that  of  hailstones  to  the  size  of  pigeon  eggs.  The  ce- 
menting material  is  firm,  and  the  rock  therefore  very  re- 
sistant to  atmospheric  and  stream  erosion.  Streams  cut  deep 
narrow  gorges  into  it,  with  falls  or  “devil’s  jumps”  in  their 
courses  where  they  flow  over  the  more  resistant  ledges.  By 
the  recession  of  their  sources  the  creeks  and  branches  tend  to 
form  at  their  virtual  heads  vast  cirques  or  rock  houses.  The 
deep  damp  hollows  formed  by  the  steep  rocky  slopes  are  filled 
with  a characteristic  plant  growth,  a very  conspicuous  ele- 
ment of  which  is  the  laurel  and  rhododendron  (the  “ivy”  and 
the  “laurel”  of  the  mountaineer);  and  from  out  the  tangled 
mass  shoot  up  the  tall  straight  hemlock  or  spruce  pine. 

Where  the  conglomerate  rises  much  above  drainage  and 
forms  the  summits  of  the  dividing  ridges  it  carries  as  its 
characteristic  timber  the  chestnut  and  the  yellow  pine. 

The  Rockcastle  has  a somewhat  greater  extent  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  Field  than  Mr.  Campbell  mapped  out 
for  it  under  the  term  “Rockcastle  Lentil.”  Instead  of  pass- 
ing below  drainage  on  the  Cumberland  at  the  Falls,  it  is  only 
the  lowest  or  “Big  Conglomerate,”  that  a short  distance 
above  there  sinks  from  view.  The  topmost  member  does  not 
sink  below  the  level  of  the  river  till  beyond  the  mouth  of 
Jellico  Creek,  and  extends  up  Jellico  Creek  to  about  A 17-42. 
It  extends  up  Marsh  creek  as  far  as  A 21-40,  and  up  the  west- 
ern tributaries  of  Marsh  creek  to  within  a mile  or  two  of  the 
Cincinnati  Southern  Railroad.  In  the  South  Fork  Region  it 
extends  to  beyond  the  State  Line.  The  northern  limit  of  it 
crosses  the  Cincinnati  Southern  at  Alpine. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


9 


As  lias  been  stated  it  reaches  a very  great  development 
in  the  Lower  Rockcastle  River  Drainage,  np  which  it  extends 
to  the  month  of  Pine  creek,  with  isolated  patches  cut  in  to 
along  Hawk  and  Wood  creeks.  Little  and  Big  Clifty,  Lick, 
Beech,  Upper  and  Lower  Troublesome,  Bear  and  Polebridge 
creeks,  all  tributaries  to  the  Rockcastle  river  from  the  west, 
are  deeply  incised  in  this  formation,  but  it  does  not  reach  as 
far  west  as  Buck  creek. 

It  extends  up  Sinking  creek  to  a little  above  the  mouth 
of  White  Oak,  in  B.  13-6.  Fine  exposures  are  found  on  Cane 
creek.  Up  Laurel  river  it  extends  some  distance  above  Bar- 
ton’s Mill  in  A 10-58.  Bark  Camp,  Devil  and  Dog  Slaughter 
creeks  are  bedded  in  this  formation  for  the  greater  part  of 
their  courses.  All  the  u clifty  country,”  marked  by  Rock 
castle  Conglomerate  outcrops,  is  very  thinly  populated.  The 
stream  valleys  are  so  narrow,  and  commonly  so  choked  with 
boulders,  that  no  roads  traverse  them.  In  many  instances 
there  are  no  trails  even. 

The  very  pebbly  conglomerate  referred  to  before  as  show- 
ing up  suddenly  at  the  mouth  of  Roundstone  creek,  and  ex- 
tending in  a narrow  belt  up  the  drainage  area  of  this  stream 
to  the  head  and  over  on  to  the  headwaters  of  Silver  creek; 
and  which  also  appears  in  patches  on  Horse  Lick  Creek,  and 
has  been  somewhat  doubtfully  correlated  by  Campbell  with 
his  Rockcastle,  appears  to  the  writer  to  be  in  all  probability 
a different  lens  of  sandstone.  Its  position  is  in  a channel  cut 
out  of  the  limestone.  The  material  is  very  pebbly,  and  the 
cementing  substance  so  soluble,  that  under  the  influence  of 
the  weather  it  breaks  down  into  beds  of  gravel.  This  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Sinks,  Rockcastle  county,  has  attracted  atten- 
tion as  a gravel  suitable  to  be  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
concrete,  and  quite  a good  deal  has  been  shipped  away  from 
there  for  that  purpose.  According  to  Col.  Johnston,  of  Louis- 
ville, who  has  made  contributions  both  to  the  history  and 


10 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


geology  of  tlie  region  through  which  this  branch  of  the  Louis- 
ville & Nashville  Railroad  passes,  the  name  “Roundstone” 
applied  to  the  stream  in  the  drainage  of  which  this  conglom- 
erate mainly  lies,  is  derived  from  the  abundance  of  the  loose 
quartz  conglomerate  pebbles  in  the  bed  of  the  stream  in  its 
lower  course.  Campbell,  in  his  Report  on  the  London  Quad- 
rangle, derived  the  name  from  the  presence  of  quartz  con- 
cretions, weathered  from  the  Waverly  Formation  which  is 
exposed  in  the  upper  courses  of  this  stream. 

We  suggest  for  this  channel  filling  conglomerate  (and 
hence  doubtfully  of  marine  origin),  the  name  “Livingston 
Conglomerate. ” 

The  Corbin  Conglomerate. — This,  where  typically  devel- 
oped, is  a coarse  friable  sandstone  or  fine  grained  conglomer- 
ate. Campbell  refers  to  it  as  a “pink  conglomerate. ” The 
pebbles  in  it  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Field  are  always 
small — not  larger  than  peas.  It  forms  the  top  of  the  highest 
ridges  throughout  most  of  the  areas  south  of  the  Kentucky 
river.  North  of  the  divide  between  the  Kentucky  and  Red 
rivers  the  Corbin  as  a member  distinct  from  the  Rockcastle, 
has  never  been  differentiated.  In  the  region  where  developed, 
it  sinks  to  drainage  along  the  eastern  margin  of  the  district 
covered  by  this  report.  Though  not  so  resistant  as  the  Rock- 
castle, yet  it  is  more  so  than  the  shales  with  which  it  is  inter- 
bedded  and  gives  rise  to  the  same  kind  of  topography  as  the 
lower  conglomerate,  and  carries  the  same  kind  of  vegetation. 
Forming  as  it  does  the  top  of  the  Conglomerate  Ser- 
ies it  has  constituted  in  the  past  a local  base  level  at  which  the 
denudation  was  arrested  for  a time.  It  is  this  very  much  dis- 
sected old  structural  plain  that  is  now  known  throughout  this 
whole  region  as  the  “Flatwoods.”  North  of  the  Cumberland, 
east  of  the  Rockcastle  and  south  of  the  Kentucky  all  the  inter- 
stream areas  within  the  Lee  outcrop,  which  reach  an  elevation 
of  between  1,200  and  1,300  feet  above  tide,  are  capped  with 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


11 


this  conglomerate.  It  also  extends  across  the  Rockcastle  into 
Rockcastle  county  along  the  high  ridges  which  reach  up  to 
these  contours.  Southward  in  Pulaski  county  it  is  not  found 
west  of  the  Rockcastle  and  north  of  the  Cumberland,  probably 
because  of  the  rising  of  the  formations  in  this  direction  and 
the  absence  of  contours  high  enough  to  catch  it. 

South  of  the  Cumberland  river  it  is  first  met  with  along 
the  high  ridge  road  between  Cumberland  Falls  Station  and 
Cumberland  Falls,  where  it  reaches  the  1,400  foot  contour 
westerly.  Along  the  line  of  the  Cincinnati  Southern  south- 
ward from  Marshall  Siding  to  Pine  Knot,  this  formation  is  at 
track  level  and  also  forms  the  tops  of  the  ridges  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity.  In  passing  eastward  up  the  Cumberland  river, 
the  formation,  which  has  in  this  direction  gradually  changed 
to  a thin  bedded  shaly  sandstone,  is  still  above  drainage  at 
Williamsburg,  and  about  40  feet  thick.  The  base  is  here 
about  40  feet  above  the  river  and  rests  on  a very  black  shale. 
In  the  western  part  of  the  area  the  formation  reaches  a max- 
imum thickness  of  from  100  to  150  feet.  A splendid  section  is 
shown  of  the  Corbin  in  cuts  of  the  Louisville  & Nashville  Rail- 
road in  coming  up  on  to  the  ridge  at  Altamont  from  the  waters 
of  Laurel  Branch  of  Hazel  Patch  creek.  Eastward  and  north- 
eastward from  here,  on  the  waters  of  Little  and  Big  Raccoon 
creeks,  Upper  Hazel  Patch  creek,  White  Oak  creek,  tribu- 
taries of  the  Rockcastle  from  the  south,  and  Moore  and  Pond 
creeks,  tributaries  from  the  north,  there  is  quite  a large  area 
in  which  the  Corbin  is  very  thin  or  wanting  entirely.  When 
wanting  it  is  quite  difficult  to  know  where  to  draw  the  line 
between  the  Lee  and  Breathitt,  unless  the  Lily  Coal  (No.  1 
of  the  older  Reports)  can  be  identified.  This  is  always 
due  a short  distance,  usually  within  20  feet,  above  the  top  of 
the  Corbin,  or  the  horizon  of  the  Corbin.  The  ridge  roads 
over  a large  portion  of  the  middle  and  southern  parts  of  the 
district  covered  by  this  report  are  bedded  upon  Corbin,  and 


12 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


on  account  of  their  sandy  character  and  level  grades  are  in 
fair  condition  for  the  entire  year.  These  ridge  roads  form  the 
best  highways  of  intercommunication  in  the  region.  The 
Great  Wilderness  Road,  over  which  the  pioneers  mostly  came 
from  Virginia  into  the  Blue  Grass  Region  of  Kentucky,  after 
it  ascends  from  the  Rockcastle  River  to  follow  the  ridge  which 
marks  the  boundary  between  Jackson  and  Rockcastle  coun- 
ties, and  through  which  stretch  it  is  known  as  “The  Big 
Hill  ” is  bedded  for  the  most  part  on  Corbin. 

The  soil  of  these  ridges,  as  might  be  expected  from  its 
sandy  character  is  naturally  quite  poor.  Still  the  exper- 
ience of  the  German-Swiss  Colonists,  who  under  such  fair 
promises  were  induced  to  settle  on  these  Corbin  Ridge  lands 
west  of  the  Louisville  & Nashville  Railroad  in  its  stretch  from 
Altamont  to  Pittsburg,  lias  shown  that  by  careful  tillage  it 
can  be  made  to  produce  rather  bountifully. 

Whether  it  is  the  result  of  such  demonstration  or  not, 
certain  it  is  a fact  that  the  attention  of  the  population  through 
this  mountain  district  seems  of  late  years  to  have  been  turned 
to  these  ridge  lands  as  suitable  for  cultivation,  and  as  furnish- 
ing desirable  sites  for  homes.  Perhaps  the  introduction  of  the 
practice  of  drilling  deep  wells  for  water  has  had  much  to  do 
with  the  making  of  these  dry  ridges  habitable.  These 
wells  from  which  the  water  is  drawn  in  long  cylindrical  gal- 
vanized buckets  by  the  aid  of  an  iron  pulley  mechanism,  afford 
copious  supplies  of  purest  sand-filtered  soft  water.  The  con- 
ditions on  these  ridges  are  ideal  for  fruit  culture  and  the  Swiss 
colonists  have  demonstrated  that  the  finest  varieties  can  here 
be  raised  in  great  abundance. 

The  original  timber  on  these  ridges  was  mainly  chestnut 
and  pine.  Where  more  remote  from  market  still  much  of  it 
remains.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  pine  in  the  region 
about  McKee,  in  Jackson  county. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


13 


COALS  OF  THE  LEE  FORMATION. 

There  is  an  opinion  widely  current  among  geologists  and 
coal  men  that  coal  seams  in  the  Conglomerate  Measures  are 
few  and  unimportant.  Owen  voiced  this  notion  in  the  fifties, 
when  he  characterized  these  as  the  “ False  Coal  Measures.” 
Crandall,  however,  has  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
ratio  of  coal  to  strata  is  greater  in  these  conglomerate  meas- 
ures than  in  those  above,  and  Ashley  from  his  investigations 
in  the  Cumberland  Gap  Region,  has  come  to  the  same  con- 
clusion. 

The  chief  factor  that  lias  militated  against  the  greater 
development  of  these  coals  is  their  inaccessibility  on  account 
of  the  ruggedness  of  the  country.  As  regards  general  per- 
sistence, some  of  the  seams  will  compare  favorably  with  those 
higher  up  in  the  Series. 

There  are  indications  that  the  peaty  beds,  from  which 
coal  was  formed,  were  cut  out  in  places  by  the  same  shifting 
currents  or  stream  courses  as  deposited  the  sands  and  gravels. 
These  “ cut-outs,”  however,  are  apt  to  be  local,  and  do  not  in- 
terfere so  mutoh  with  the  general  continuity  of  the  beds.  On 
account  of  the  great  unconformity  which  exists  at  the  base  of 
the  Coal  Measures,  as  well  as  by  reason  of  the  lenticular  char' 
acter  of  the  sandstone  members,  it  is  very  difficult  to  correlate 
seams  exposed  for  the  most  part  only  at  widely  spaced  in- 
tervals. 

The  base  of  the  Lee  will  sometimes  be  found  to  rest  upon 
the  eroded  surface  of  the  Pennington  shale  and  impure  lime- 
stone (Upper  Chester),  and  sometimes  upon  that  of  the  New- 
man Limestone.  The  upper  part  of  the  latter  turns  out  upon  in- 
vestigation to  be  Ste.  Genevieve,  and  the  lower  part  St.  Louis. 
In  the  southern  portion  of  the  field — that  lying  in  the  Rock 


14 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


castle,  Cumberland  and  South  Fork  Drainage — Die  Pennington 
is  commonly  the  top  member  of  the  Mississippian  upon  which 
the  Lee  rests.  At  the  top  of  the  Pennington  here,  when  it  has 
not  been  eroded,  is  a rather  massive  impure  yellow  limestone, 
having  a maximum  thickness  of  about  eight  feet,  with  green: 
ish  shales  and  thin  yellowish  limestones  below. 

Campbell  assigns  to  the  Pennington  in  this  region  a max- 
imum thickness  of  90  feet.  The  writer  has  never  been  aH» 
to  measure  any  section  showing  over  20  feet. 

Fossils  prove  the  Pennington  to  be  of  Chester  age. 

The  farthest  north  Pennington  has  been  observed  by  the 
writer  is  at  Heidelberg,  on  the  Kentucky  river  just  opposite 
the  mouth  of  Sturgeon  creek. 

But  exposures  of  this  formation  are  quite  rare  long  be- 
fore the  Kentucky  river  is  reached  in  going  northward.  It 
all  but  disappears  north  of  Jackson  county.  Even  in  the  dis- 
trict where  it  may  be  expected,  it  is  frequently  wanting  on 
account  of  removal  by  erosion,  before  the  deposition  of  the 
Coal  Measures,  or  if  present,  on  account  of  its  shaly  charac- 
ter so  covered  as  not  to  be  seen  at  all. 

For  this  reason  there  is  always  an  element  of  uncertainty 
in  the  correlation  of  coal  seams  obtained  by  measuring  up- 
wards from  the  top  of  “the  limestone.”  Usually  it  is  the 
Newman  Limestone  whose  top  is  most  likely  to  be  recog- 
nized, and  the  real  base  of  the  Coal  Measures  may  be  some 
20  feet  above  this.  If  there  are  any  sections  as  thick  as 
Campbell  estimates,  the  base  might  be  as  much  as  90  feet 
above  “The  (Newman)  Limestone.” 

As  an  illustration  of  how  unreliable  “height  above  the 
limestone,”  meaning  the  pure  or  Newman  Limestone,  may  be 
for  purposes  of  correlation,  it  is  only  necessary  to  consult 
sections  recorded  in  this  Report,  that  have  been  obtained  in 
the  vicinity  of  Livingston.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  coal 
here  identified  as  No.  2,  is  the  same  seen  throughout  this 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


15 


mining  district,  but  note  how  the  interval  between  it  and 
the  top  of  the  pure  limestone — the  Newman — varies. 

The  Lee  Coals  of  the  Cumberland  River  and  South  Fork 
Regions. — Leslie,  in  his  Report  previously  referred  to,  iden- 
tified five  coals  in  this  region.  Two  of  these  were  considered 
workable.  All  well  classed  erroneously  as  “ Sub-Conglom- 
erate. ” He  also  refers  to  a coal  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rock- 
castle river,  which  we  considered  to  be  above  the  Conglom- 
erate and  lienee  belonging  to  the  “true  coal  measures.”  This 
is  doubtless  but  one  of  the  five  coals  previously  enumerated, 
only  in  this  case  an  additional  lens  of  sandstone  has  inter- 
vened. 

Prof.  Crandall  enumerates  six  coals  in  the  Cumberland 
and  South  Fork  Region  as  belonging  to  the  “Rockcastle  Ser- 
ies.” Three  of  these  he  considered  workable.  These  would 
be,  counting  from  the  base  of  the  Lee  upward,  his  Nos.  2, 
4 and  6.*  In  this  report  they  will  be  given  the  Numbers  1,  2 
and  3,  and  openings  on  these  coals  will  be  designated  in  the 
Lee  as  they  are  on  the  map,  by  crosses  accompanied  by  the 
appropriate  number.  Corresponding  names  for  these  seams 
are  the  Hudson,  Beaver  Creek  and  Barren  Fork,  respectively. 
Mr.  L.  N.  Taylor  in  his  examination  of  the  coals  of  Pulaski 
county  during  the  summer  of  1906,  placed  two  more  coals  in 
the  Lee  above  the  Barren  Fork,  but  in  so  doing  he  reckoned 
the  Cumberland  Falls  Station,  Cogar,  and  Williams  Siding 
Coal  as  some  50  feet  above  the  Barren  Fork.  Crandall  identi- 
fies all  these  coals  as  the  same  and  also  includes  the  Beaver 
Creek  in  the  category.  Crandall  is  wrong  in  the  last  instance, 
but  undoubtedly  right  in  his  first  correlations  above. 

In  a section  along  the  line  of  the  Cincinnati  Southern 
Railroad  made  in  1901,  the  writer  enumerated  eleven  coals 

* It  should  be  understood,  however,  that  Prof.  Crandall,  knowing  the  vagaries  of  “Inter- 
Conglomerate”  coal  beds,  did  not  really  give  numbers  to  such  beds.  See  Appendix. — C.  J.  N. 


16 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


(counting  all  that  were  three  inches  and  upwards,)  between 
Alpine  and  Barren  Fork  Station. 

The  main  coal  exposed  from  Cumberland  Falls  Station  to 
Barren  Fork  is  the  No.  10  of  this  Series.  No.  11  is  the  thin 
coal  seen  a short  distance  above  10  at  the  tunnel  cut  just 
south  of  Cumberland  Falls  Station. 


The  Coals  in  the  Cumberland  River  Region  of  Pulaski  County. 

Lee  No.  1 Seam  (The  Hudson  Coal). — This  is  the 
most  persistent  coal  or  group  of  coals  (for  it  is  frequently 
split  up)  in  the  conglomerate  measures.  There  are  few  places 
along  the  western  border  of  the  Eastern  Coal  Field  in  Ken- 
tucky where  some  trace  of  this  coal  may  not  be  found  a 
short  distance  above  the  top  of  the  highest  limestone.  Outside 
of  the  Cumberland  river  and  South  Fork  Regions,  however, 
it  is  generally  thin,  seldom  showing  over  24  inches  of  coal  free 
from  any  partings.  And  what  in  one  opening  is  a thin  parting 
of  a few  inches  scarcely  interfering  with  the  commercial  min- 
ing of  the  coal  may  in  a short  distance  thicken  up  to  several 
feet,  so  that  neither  of  the  two  thin  seams  here  can  be  eco- 
nomically mined  at  all. 

For  instance,  at  the  old  McKee  opening  on  the  Cumber- 
land, a short  distance  below  the  mouth  of  the  Rockcastle, 
there  is  shown  63  inches  of  coal  with  a 25-inch  shale  parting- 
37  inches  from  the  base,  while  at  Rockcastle  Springs,  about 
four  miles  up  the  Rockcastle  from  the  mouth,  this  parting 
has  increased  to  about  30  feet,  and  the  aggregate  thickness 
of  the  coal  in  the  two  benches  has  decreased  to  39  inches.  In 
other  places  the  coal  may  show  a division  into  three  seams, 
and  perhaps  even  more.  The  height  of  this  coal  above  the 
base  of  the  Coal  Measures  may  vary  from  as  great  as  100 
feet  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  district  covered  by  this 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


17 


report,  to  almost  zero  in  the  northern  part.  The  quality  of 
the  coal  is  generally  excellent. 

Probably  the  earliest  opening  upon  this  seam  where  min- 
ing was  carried  on  for  commercial  purposes  in  the  days  of 
attempted  river  transportation  for  these  “Cumberland  River 
Coals/  ’ was  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Cumberland  river  in  A 
19-56.  This  was  known  as  the  “Hudson  Mine.”  The  level 
of  the  coal  is  here  30  feet  above  the  river  and  shows  at  the 
entrance  34  inches  of  coal  under  shale.  It  is  reported  to  be 
a “double  seam”  further  back.  It  was  also  opened  across 
the  river  at  about  the  same  elevation.  It  passes  below  drain- 
age about  the  mouth  of  Laurel  river  in  A 18-57. 

Further  down  the  river,  beginning  about  one  mile  below 
the  mouth  of  the  Rockcastle,  and  extending  to  the  mouth  of 
Addison  branch,  this  seam  had  formerly  many  openings  made 
upon  it.  The  hazards  of  river  navigation,  chief  among  which 
were  those  of  Smith  Shoals,  caused  exploitation  of  these  mines 
to  become  unprofitable  and  it  was  abandoned.  Some  of  the 
more  celebrated  of  these  mines  were  the  Edwards  in  about 
A 22-58,  thickness  of  coal  34  inches,  the  McKee  already  re- 
ferred to  in  A 23-59,  thickness  88  inches  with  a 25-inch  part- 
ing 26  inches  from  the  base;  and  the  Boyer  near  the  mouth 
of  Addison  branch  in  A 26-58. 

Aneroid  measurements  give  100  feet  as  the  height  of  the 
McKee  opening  above  the  top  of  the  Yellow  Pennington  Lime- 
stone, and  165  feet  as  the  height  above  the  Cumberland  river. 
Lesley,  in  his  Report  gives  the  height  of  the  McKee  opening 
above  “the  limestone”  as  from  80  to  93  feet. 

Prof.  Crandall  gives  the  analyses  of  this  coal  from  the 
Edwards  and  McKee  Mines  as  follows: 


Moisture 

Edwards. 

3.40 

McKee. 

2.80 

Volatile  combustibles 

34.40 

33.80 

Fixed  carbon 

57.20 

53.60 

Ash 

5.00 

9.80 

Sulphur 

.687 

2.58 

18 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


An  opening  was  also  made  on  this  coal  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Cumberland  River  in  about  A 27-58. 

Lee  No.  2,  or  the  Beaver  Creek  Seam.  — Like  the 
No.  1,  this  was  also  formerly  much  worked  along  this  part 
of  the  Cumberland  river  in  Pulaski  county,  where  it  was  reck- 
oned as  the  main  seam.  More  recently  the  seam  was  worked 
at  Beaver  creek,  but  at  present  the  mines  here  have  been 
abandoned.  At  entry  Number  One,  Beaver  Creek  Mines,  the 
thickness  of  the  coal  is  48  inches;  at  entry  Number  Two,  46 
inches.  An  average  of  four  analyses  made  of  samples  collect- 
ed from  different  entries  and  different  parts  of  the  seam  gives 
the  following: 

Specific  Gravity.  1.358 

Moisture ....  2.8 

Volatile  combustibles 34.09 

Fixed  carbon 52.38 

Ash 11.34 

Sulphur 2.85 

This  seam  has  been  opened  on  nearly  every  branch  flow- 
ing into  the  Cumberland  between  the  “Big  Bend”  and  the 
mouth  o(f  Rockcastle  river.  It  has  also  been  opened  on  the 
banks  of  the  Cumberland  itself  in  this  stretch  and  also  far- 
ther up.  It  goes  under  drainage  on  the  river  at  the  mouth  of 
Dog  Slaughter  creek  in  A 19-52.  This  is  in  Whitley  county. 

Prof.  Crandall  made  this  No.  2 coal  his  No.  4,  counting 
thick  and  thin  alike,  and  estimated  it  as  coming  70  to  90  feet 
above  No.  1.  Lesley  also  made  it  No.  4 in  the  series,  and 
placed  it  65  feet  above  the  “McKee  Seam”  or  No.  1.  Among 
the  more  celebrated  mines  located  on  this  seam  and  worked 
in  the  palmy  days  of  Cumberland  River  Coal  Mining  and 
Transportation,  may  be  mentioned  the  Rayburn  “Slipup,” 
situated  on  the  “Big  Bend”  of  the  river  in  A 27-59,  thick- 
ness 40  inches.  The  Addison  branch  in  A 26-59,  thickness 
54  inches,  the  Hiding  in  A 27-57,  thickness  42  inches;  the 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


19 


Dolin  in  about  A 25-59  near  head  of  Little  Lick  Branch;  the 
Doyle,  the  exact  location  of  which  is  unknown  to  the  writer; 
the  Brown-Owens  located  by  Talbutt,  who  collected  samples 
of  the  coal,  as  “two  miles  south  of  the  Cumberland  River  and 
nine  miles  from  Rockcastle  Springs,”  and  finally  the  Curd, 
38  inches  thick  in  A 18-56.  The  latter  mine  is  in  Whitley 
County. 

Other  openings  have  been  made  on  this  coal  in  A 25-57, 
near  the  head  of  Big  Lick  Branch,  and  on  Big  Branch  in  26-59. 

South  of  the  Cumberland  the  south  and  east  dip  rapidly 
carries  this  coal  below  drainage  and  it  is  not  known  in  the 
district  east  of  the  Cincinnati  Southern  and  south  of  the 
Beaver  Creek  Mines. 

The  analyses  of  the  No.  2 coal  from  most  of  the  foregoing 
openings  are  as  follows: 


Beaver 

Creek. 

Rayburn 

Slipup 

Addison 

Branch. 

Brown- 

Owens. 

Doolin. 

Moisture 

2.8 

2.00 

2.40 

2.40 

2.00 

Volatile  combustibles  . . . 

34.09 

34.00 

35.60 

36.79 

35.30 

Fixed  carbon 

52  38 

55  20 

54.40 

50.24 

52.94 

Ash 

11.34 

8.00 

7.60 

10.60 

9.76 

Sulphur 

Specific  gravity 

2 877 
1 358 

1 20 

1.70 

2.494 

1.357 

3.565 

1.367 

In  going  south  on  the  Cincinnati  Southern  Railroad,  the 
No.  1 coal  shows  up  at  Alpine,  the  point  where  the  road 
enters  the  great  Eastern  Coal  Field.  It  is  here  split  into 
two  seams  and  not  workable.  Crandall  estimates  the  height  of 
the  Alpine  Coal  above  the  Chester  Limestone  as  from  50  to 
60  feet,  but  the  real  coal  worked  at  Alpine  is  Number  2,  and 
is  higher  up  than  that. 

Along  the  South  Fork  of  the  Cumberland,  this  No.  1 
coal  has  been  opened  at  a number  of  places.  The  highest  up 
recorded  by  Crandall  is  at  Big  Creek  in  A 32-48,  and  extend- 
ing from  there  to  the  Devil ’s  Jumps  in  A 32-41.  At  the  latter 


20 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 

place  it  is  the  lower  division,  30  inches  thick  with  analyses 
as  follows: 


Moisture  1.50 

Volatile  combustibles  39.40 

Fixed  carbon ...  63.88 

Ash 5.40 

Sulphur 1.089 


No.  1 is  the  lower  coal  now  so  extensively  worked 
by  the  Stearns  Lumber  and  Mining  Co.,  with  openings  in 
A 32-41  and  A 32-42.  In  the  latter  minute  quadrangle  they  are 
situated  near  the  mouth  of  the  Worley  and  Stover  branches, 
respectively,  and  are  here  30  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Penn- 
ington Yellow  Limestone — the  same  that  a little  farther  down 
the  South  Fork  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  mineral  wool. 
The  seam  in  this  region  ranges  from  49  to  56  inches. 
Crandall  gives  the  accompanying  section  for  the  ‘ 4 Bry van 
Coal”  at  the  mouth  of  Worley  Branch.  My  own  measure- 
ments did  not  indicate  a thickness  of  over  49  inches  for  this 
coal  as  at  present  mined. 

An  average  of  three  analyses  made  from  samples  collected 
by  Capt.  Crozer,  Mr.  Tliruston  and  Prof.  Crandall  and  also 
an  analysis  of  the  coke,  resulted  as  follows: 


Av.  of  Three 
Analyses 

Coke 

Moisture 

3.00 

2.10 

Volatile  combustibles 

35.74 

Fixed  carbon  

56.41 

90.46 

Ash 

5.13 

7.44 

Sulphur 

797 

.665 

Prof.  Crandall  gives  other  measurements  for  this  coal  in 
the  South  Fork  Legion  as  follows:  Near  mouth  of  Rock 

creek  (Wayne  county),  in  A 23-43,  56  inches.  “In  the 
point  of  the  ridge  between  Nigger  and  Big  Creek,  54  inches 
in  two  benches,  31  and  35  inches,  separated  by  9 inches  of 
shale.  The  lower  23  inches  is  a splint  coal. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


21 


No.  2 in  the  South  Fork  drainage  is  found  at  its  as- 
signed horizon.  It  is  the  upper  coal  worked  by  the  Stearns 
Mining  and  Lumber  Company  on  Paunch  Creek  at  Barthell, 
in  A 31-11.  Here  it  is  52  inches  thick  and  closer  to  the  top 
of  the  Pennington  than  usual,  being  here  by  aneroid  measure- 
ment 80  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Pennington  Impure  Lime- 
stone. The  same  seam  shows  up  near  the  heads  of  Worley 
and  Stover  branches  in  A 32-42. 

Farther  up  the  South  Fork,  at  the  DeviPs  Jumps,  this 
coal  analyses  as  follows: 


Moisture 90 

Volatile  combustibles 89.86 

Fixed  carbon 47.30 

Ash . . . 11.90 

Sulphur 3.741 


Bryant  reports  this  seam  exposed  from  point  to  point 
along  the  South  Fork  all  the  way  up  to  and  beyond  the  state 
line,  and  particularly  in  A 31-40  and  33-37. 

Northward  from  the  Stearns  openings  on  this  seam,  it  is 
reported  by  Crandall  as  probably  the  Wilson  on  Little 
Indian  Creek,  somewhat  beyond  the  limits  of  the  map  ac- 
acompanying  this  report,  and  according  to  Bryant  it  is  the 
coal  at  present  worked  at  Alpine. 

An  analysis  of  a coal  from  Alpine,  whether  of  No.  1 or 
No.  2 does  not  appear,  is  as  follows: 


Moisture 

Volatile  combustibles, 

Fixed  carbon 

Ash  

Sulphur 


1.40 

36.20 

66.80 

6.80 

1.043 


22 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


Lee  No.  3 (the  Barren  Fork  Seam)  in  Pulaski  and  Whitley 
Counties  South  of  the  Cumberland  River. 


This  seam  occurs  above  the  ‘‘Big  Conglomerate  Ledge/ 7 
and  where  typically  developed,  is  about  two  hundred  feet 
above  the  Beaver  Creek  Seam. 

In  going  south  along  the  Cincinnati  Southern  Railroad,  it 
is  first  met  with  at  the  first  tunnel  cut  south  of  Cumberland 
Falls  Station.  It  is  here  at  track  level  and  36  inches  thick 
(39  according  to  Crandall,  with  18  inches  above  separated  by 
8 inches  of  clay  shale)  There  is  a thin  streak  (about  1 inches) 
40  feet  higher  up,  which  may  represent  what  Mr.  Bryant  con- 
siders a “split”  from  the  Xo.  3,  and  which  Mr.  Taylor  refers 
to  as  the  upper  coal  opened,  hut  never  worked,  at  Flat  Rock 
Station,  further  south. 

This  Barren  Fork  coal  really  first  shows  near  the  line  of 
the  Railroad  at  Greenwood,  where  it  is  above  track  level. 

The  seam  dips  rapidly  to  the  southeast;  so  that  in  con- 
sequence of  this  and  the  rising  of  the  grade  of  the  railroad, 
when  Barren  Fork  is  reached,  the  mine  openings  are,  accord- 
ing to  Prof.  Crandall,  150-180  feet  below  track  level.  The  el- 
evation of  Cumberland  Falls  Station  is  1,240  A.  T.  and  Barren 
Fork  Station  about  1,260.  This  gives  a dip  o<f  120  to  150  feet 
in  these  four  miles,  or  about  32  to  37  feet  per  mile. 

As  mined  at  Williams  Siding  in  A 30-50,  it  is  42  inches 
thick  (according  to  Mr.  Taylor),  as  measured  by  the  writer  in 
the  Railroad  cut,  36  inches.  The  same  seam  is  mined  between 
here  and  Barren  Fork,  at  Stations  Cogar  and  Flat  Rock. 

At  Barren  Fork  mines,  where  this  seam  has  been  exten- 
sively worked,  it  ranges  in  thickness,  according  to  Crandall. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


23 


from  32  to  36  inches.  Mr.  Taylor  gives  36  inches  as  the  thick- 
ness at  the  “New  Mine.” 

Eastward,  away  from  the  railroad,  this  seam  has  been 
opened  at  several  places  on  Barren  and  the  Cogar  Forks  of  In- 
dian creek,  as  for  instance,  on  Cogar  Fork.  It  is  here  27  in- 
ches thick  and  about  20  feet  above  drainage  (180  'feet  below 
base  of  Corbin),  and  dips  with  the  fall  of  the  stream  through 
A 25-49  and  24-48.  Still  further  east  in  Whitley  county,  it 
may  be  found  under  a sandstone  cliff  above  the  one  the  Cum- 
berland river  flows  over  at  the  Falls.  It  is  the  thin  coal  about 
60  feet  above  the  river  at  the  Falls.  In  going  up  the  river 
from  here  it  sinks  to  drainage  near  the  mouth  of  Marsh  and 
Indian  creeks,  in  A 21-48. 

The  coal,  which  shows  up  in  the  bed  of  Marsh  creek  about 
two  and  one  half  miles  from  the  month  and  in  the  bed  of  Hens 
Nest  creek,  a little  above  its  junction  with  Marsh  creek,  both 
exposures  being  in  A 22-47,  is  also  this  Barren  Fork  Seam, 
according  to  Mr.  Bryant,  but  Mr.  Taylor  thinks  this  to  be  a 
higher  seam — the  Upper  Flat  Bock  Coal.  The  real  Barren 
Fork  Seam,  according  to  the  latter,  is  the  one  exposed  in  the 
bed  of  the  creek  just  above  the  mouth  of  Brush,  in  A 22-47. 
He  estimates  it  to  be  60  inches  thick  here. 


Greenwood 

Barren 

Fork 

Barren 

Fork 

Barren 

Fork 

Moisture  

2.50 

1.54 

2.32 

2.12 

Volatile  combustibles. 

36.20 

33.80 

32.48 

31.56 

Fixed  carbon 

52.10 

58.26 

59.10 

69.02 

Ash  

5.80 

6.40 

6.10 

7.30 

Sulphur 

2.601 

1.54 

1.079 

1.878 

24 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


The  Lee  Coals  North  of  the  Cumberland  River  in  Pulaski, 
Whitley  and  Laurel  Counties. 


No.  1 Seam.— Northward  from  the  Cumberland  river  and 
still  in  Pulaski  county  the  No.  1 or  Hudson  Seam,  can  be 
easily  traced  into  the  Buck  Creek  Drainage.  It  shows  at  the 
cross  roads  known  as  Poplarville  in  A 27-2.  Near  the  head  of 
Baker  Hollow,  in  A 30-3,  it  is  46  to  50  inches  thick  with  the 
typical  clay  parting  of  the  McKee  opening.  It  is  here  about  80 
feet  above  the  nearest  outcrop  of  Newman  Limestone.  Near 
Colo  P.  0.,  in  the  other  prong  of  Baker  Hollow,  in  A 20-5,  it 
is  34  to  40  inches  thick,  with  a 5-inch  clay  parting. 

West  of  here,  in  the  Pitman  Hills,  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
map,  this  same  seam  has  been  opened  along  with  No.  2 above 
it.  On  the  East  side  of  Buck  creek,  in  25-9,  there  is  a coal 
50  feet  above  the  top  of  “The  Limestone, ” probably  New- 
man, which  may  represent  this  seam.  Other  coals  in  the 
neighborhood  are  reported  by  Taylor  as  respectively  75  and 
175  feet  above  “The  Limestone.”  It  is  not  easy  to  properly 
place  all  these  coals,  but  the  lowest  one  is  certainly  the 
Hudson. 

At  the  head  of  Price’s  Valley,  in  21-10,  is  an  opening  on  a 
coal  reported  to  be  three  feet  thick,  which  is  probably  the 
Hudson  seam,  and  near  Public  P.  O.,  in  B 24-11,  may  be  seen 
the  bloom  of  three  coals  in  the  road  distributed  through  a 
vertical  distance  of  25  feet,  which  is  the  same  seam  in  a split- 
up  condition.  The  lowest  is  35  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Pen- 
nington. Near  Old  Dallas  P.  O.,  on  a knob,  which  is  an  out- 
lier of  the  Lee,  in  B 29-11,  Peter  Brady’s  place,  this  coal  is 
18-20  inches  thick  and  about  80  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
Newman  Limestone. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


25 


No.  2. — This  seam  is  also  present  in  the  Buck  Creek 
Drainage.  Its  presence  westward  in  the  divide  between 
Buck  and  Pitman  creeks  has  already  been  referred  to.  The 
thin  coal  in  A 25-8,  given  by  Mr.  Taylor  as  125  feet  above 
the  (Newman?)  Limestone,  may  represent  this  coal,  though  it 
may  be  the  thin  seam  that  is  due  a short  distance  below  No.  2. 

The  higher  coal  in  A 30-3  is  probably  this  seam,  and 
also  the  24  inch  coal  in  A 30-7,  near  School  House  No.  88. 
Here  it  is  160  feet  above  the  (Newman?)  Limestone. 

The  No.  3,  or  Barren  Fork  Seam. — It  is  more  than  likely 
that  the  coal  near  the  top  of  the  ridge  between  the  Rock- 
castle river  and  Buck  creek  is  this  No.  3. 

At  Mt.  Victory  (Mt.  Starling),  in  A 25-2,  in  drilling  a 
well,  a coal  was  struck  at  the  depth  of  42  feet.  The  surface 
of  the  ground  is  here  1,200  feet  A.  T.,  and  Mr.  Taylor  esti- 
mates that  this  coal  must  be  200  feet  above  the  No.  2 Seam, 
exposed  under  the  overhanging  cliff  of  the  great  Rockhouse 
near  the  head  of  Bear  creek  about  one  and  one-half  miles 
south. 

The  46-inch  coal  on  the  land  of  Mr.  Clonts,  in  23-8,  is  about 
225  feet  above  the  top  of  the  nearest  (Newman?)  Limestone, 
and  the  four-foot  coal  in  24-8  is  about  the  same  distance  above 
this  datum  line,  and  hence  both  are  provisionally  assigned  to 
this  No.  3 horizon. 

Rockcastle  Drainage  in  Pulaski  County. 

In  going  north  along  the  Rockcastle  river,  in  Pulaski 
county,  the  No.  1 Seam  shows  as  two  seams  at  Rockcastle 
Springs  with  an  interval  of  30  feet  between.  The  lower  is  22  to 
25  inches  thick  and  has  been  opened  for  hotel  use.  The  upper 
is  14  inches  thick.  Across  the  river  at  the  ford  where  the  Lon- 
don road  crosses  and  hence  in  Laurel  county,  the  same  two 
coals  show  their  bloom,  and  near  by,  on  land  of  Joe  Wells,  in 


26 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


A 19-1,  on  tlie  Laurel  side,  an  opening  lias  been  made  on  one  of 
them  where  it  shows  18  inches.  A short  distance  above  here 
this  coal  horizon  falls  below  drainage,  and  when  it  should 
next  appear  in  about  A 20-3,  as  the  result  of  the  rising  of  the 
formations,  the  coal  itself  cannot  with  certainty  be  recog- 
nized, nor  do  we  again  find  undoubted  No.  1 until  the  month 
of  Line  creek  is  passed. 

The  No.  2 Seam  is  exposed  near  the  head  of  Bear  creek 
in  A 23-1,  under  an  overhanging  “rock  house”  cliff.  Prof. 
Crandall  gives  its  thickness  as  42  inches  and  its  analysis  as 
follows: 


Moisture 2.40 

Volatile  combustibles 34.00 

Fixed  carbon 64.20 

Ash 9.40 

Sulphur .467 


Also  upon  the  head  of  Little  Troublesome,  the  next  stream 
above  Bear  creek,  in  A 22-1,  the  same  coal  occurs  with  a thick- 
ness according  to  Mr.  Taylor  of  52  inches,  the  upper  10  inches 
being  cannel. 

Still  on  the  Pulaski  side  of  the  river,  at  Sublimity,  Pi'of. 
Crandall  reports  the  seam,  on  the  authority  of  Montrose  Gra- 
ham, to  be  48  inches  thick  with  the  upper  18  inches  a splint 
coal. 

On  the  lower  part  of  Beech  creek  and  again  in  the  same 
relative  situation  on  Lick  creek,  tributaries  from  the  west 
next  above  Sublimity,  Mr.  David  Jones,  of  Mt.  Victory,  re- 
ports openings  on  what  may  be  this  coal.  These  are  in  about 
A 20-3  and  A 20-5  respectively. 

On  a tributary  of  Big  Clifty,  in  21-7,  Mr.  Taylor  reports 
a seam  opened  on  Mr.  Parkey’s  land  which  is  48  inches  thick 
and  apparently  170  feet  above  the  (Newman?)  Limestone. 

On  a tributary  of  Big  Clifty,  in  19-7,  a coal  is  reported 
36  inches  thick,  which  may  be  No.  2.  Still  further  north 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


27 


in  19-9,  at  the  falls  of  a south  tributary  of  Little  Clifty, 
is  a trace  of  a coal  under  lowest  cliff  of  the  Rockcastle  sand- 
stone, which  may  be  No.  2.  It  was  on  Mr.  Gilmour’s  land. 

On  little  Clifty  itself,  on  land  of  Chas.  Whitaker,  in  18-9, 
this  same  coal  shows  up  30  inches  thick  by  uncertain  meas- 
urement. It  is  20  feet  below  the  base  of  the  sandstone  cliff. 

A little  below  the  mouth  of  Line  creek  and  still  on  this 
same  (Pulaski)  side,  about  one  mile  below  the  mouth  of  the 
creek,  in  18-10,  is  an  impure  slaty  coal  12  to  24  inches  thick 
and  close  up  under  the  same  cliff  of  sandstone. 


The  Lee  Coals  of  Whitley  County  East  of  the  Cumberland 
and  South  of  the  Laurel  River. 


No.  1. — No  openings  have  been  made  on  this  seam,  as  it  is 
below  drainage  here. 

No.  2. — The  only  opening  on  this  seam  is  near  the  mouth 
of  Devil  creek  in  A 19-54. 

No.  3. — This  seam  shows  near  water  level  on  the  Cumber- 
land opposite  the  mouths  of  Marsh  and  Indian  creeks  in 
A 21-48,  and  again  further  down  the  river  up  a small  tributary 
coming  in  from  the  north  in  A 21-50. 

The  coal  exposed  well  up  in  the  courses  of  those  tribu- 
taries flowing  into  the  Cumberland  from  the  east  in  the  north- 
ward stretch  of  the  river  between  Cumberland  Falls  and  the 
mouth  of  the  Laurel  river,  is  probably  this  seam.  Mr. 
Bryant  locates  the  seam  on  both  Dog  Slaughter  and  Bark 
Camp  creeks  in  this  district. 


28 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


The  Lee  Coals  of  Laurel  County. 

No.  1 lias  been  opened  in  A 19-57,  across  tlie  river  from 
the  Hudson  Mine,  and  the  Joe  Wells  opening  at  the  ford 
of  the  Rockcastle  river  in  A 19-1  has  already  been  referred  to. 
These  are  about  the  only  two  openings  on  this  seam  in  this 
end  of  the  county.  In  B 16-13,  not  far  from  Andrews  P.  O., 
on  land  of  Robert  Bustle  is  a coal  25  inches  thick  which  may 
be  No.  1. 

On  Hazel  Patch  creek  in  the  vicinity  of  Hazel  Patch 
station,  a number  of  openings  have  been  made  on  a coal  oc- 
cupying about  the  horizon  of  Number  One,  which  here  seems 
to  be  in  a split-up  condition.  The  lowest  member  shows  up  in 
B 13-34  at  the  mouth  of  Happy  Hollow,  and  is  here  20  feet 
above  the  stream.  It  is  28  inches  thick.  Further  up  the  creek 
in  B 11-14,  on  a small  tributary  from  the  south  are  two  open- 
ings on  J.  McNeal’s  and  Owsley’s  land  which  expose  26  in- 
ches of  coal.  This  seems  to  be  the  upper  member  of  No.  1. 
The  same  has  been  opened  by  the  roadside  in  B 12-14  and 
worked  to  some  extent,  though  not  over  18  inches  thick. 
Near  by  on  Wood  creek  the  same  seam  has  been  opened  in 
B 12-14  on  the  Owsley-McNeal  land  where  it  shows  36  inches 
of  coal.  This  is  as  'far  north  in  Laurel  county  as  openings 
on  this  seam  have  been  noted. 

No.  2. — The  most  southerly  opening  on  this  seam  in 
Laurel  county  is  that  reported  by  Prof.  Crandall  as  being 
near  Vox  P.  0.  on  Craig  creek.  The  writer  identifies  this  as 
the  one  he  saw  in  the  bed  of  the  creek  in  about  A 15-59. 

Prof.  Crandall  gives  its  thickness  as  51  inches  and  its 
analysis  as  follows : 


Moisture 1.70 

Volatile  combustibles 33.50 

Fixed  carbon 57.20 

Ash  7. HO 

Sulphur 1.785 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


29 


On  Sam’s  Branch  west  of  the  Craig  Creek  Opening  and 
in  A 16-59  is  a coal  21-25  inches  thick  under  a Sandstone  Cliff, 
which  may  be  this  coal  or  else  a thin  seam  next  above  it.  It 
is  found  exposed  on  lands  belonging  to  J.  C.  Clark,  James 
Godwin  and  Green  Steel. 

Mr.  Reuben  Morgan,  who  lives  on  Cane  creek  in  A 16-3, 
reports  four  distinct  seams  of  coal  exposed  in  the  drainage 
of  this  stream;  the  lowest  is  in  the  bed  of  the  stream  near  the 
mouth,  the  second  under  a sandstone  ledge  in  bed  of  creek  at 
the  forks,  the  third  under  the  topmost  cliff  of  Rockcastle  in 
A 16-3,  and  the  fourth  under  the  Corbin  Cliff.  The  second  of 
these  is  probably  No.  2. 

A thin  coal  in  A 17-6,  in  the  River  Hill,  may  represent 
No.  2,  also  the  one  in  17-6  a short  distance  below  the 
mouth  of  Sinking  creek.  It  is  here  15  feet  below  the  Rock- 
castle Cliff.  Jn  17-10  on  Line  creek  near  the  mouth  the  same 
coal  is  opened  close  up  under  this  sandstone  cliff.  It  is  here 
23-25  inches  thick.  At  this  point  the  massive  conglomerates, 
so  characteristic  of  the  Lower  Rockcastle,  suddenly  disap- 
pear and  nothing  like  them  can  be  seen  along  the  river  until 
Livingston  is  reached. 

On  Hawk  creek,  on  land  of  Unthank  Jones,  in  B 13-11, 
about  6 feet  above  branch  level  is  a seam  reported  to  be  48 
inches  thick.  This  is  probably  Seam  No.  2.  Also  near 
the  head  of  Wood  creek,  on  the  Owsley-McNeal  land,  in  B 
12-12,  is  an  opening  showing  48  inches,  the  lowest  36  inches 
being  clean  coal.  This  has  pyrite  kidneys  in  it  very  like  those 
so  frequently  found  in  No.  2 of  Pulaski  county  and 
seems  to  be  at  about  the  same  horizon.  It  is  first  seen  higher 
up  on  the  creek  than  where  the  Rockcastle  Lentil  is  devel- 
oped, but  the  same  seam  has  been  opened  further  down,  in 
the  stretch  where  the  Rockcastle  thickens  up  into  massive 
hemlock  covered  ledges,  and  still  lower  down  where  they 


30 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


disappear  altogether,  as  in  B 12-14.  All  these  openings  are  on 
the  large  Owslev-McNeal  tract  of  land  comprising  about  1,000 
acres.  On  Happy  Hollow  Branch,  a southward  flowing  tribu- 
tary into  Hazel  Patch,  in  B 12-16,  is  an  opening  on  a thin  coal 
which  may  be  on  this  seam.  Much  further  up  the  river,  near 
the  ford  where  the  Old  Wilderness  Road  crosses,  is  the  bloom 
of  a thin  coal  about  40  feet  above  the  water  and  35  feet  below 
the  base  of  the  Rockcastle  Sandstone,  which  may  be  this  seam. 

No.  3.— The  coal  that  Prof.  Crandall  describes  as  show- 
ing near  the  mouth  of  Cane  creek  at  the  Winding  Stair 
Gap  and  correlates  with  the  Hudson  Seam,  Mr.  Bryant  says 
is  the  Barren  Pork  Seam.  The  bloom  of  this  coal  can  be 
seen  going  up  from  the  Rockcastle  river  at  the  ford  on  the 
London  Road  in  A 19-1.  It  is  here  under  the  second  promi- 
nent sandstone  cliff  and  is  250  feet  above  the  river. 

Prof.  Crandall  gives  this  coal  as  showing  42  inches  with 
a 9 inch  clay  parting,  8 inches  from  the  top.  His  published 
analysis  is  as  follows: 


Moisture  1.80 

Volatile  combustibles 36.40 

Fixed  carbon 56.00 

Ash  5.801 

Sulphur J 1.650 


On  land  of  Reuben  Morgan,  in  A 14-13,  valley  of  Cane 
creek,  under  uppermost  cliff  of  Rockcastle,  and  30  feet  above 
the  stream,  is  a 15-incli  coal  which  appears  to  represent  this 
No.  3 Seam. 

On  land  belonging  to  Mary  Bryant,  in  13-6,  valley  of 
Sinking  creek,  under  uppermost  cliff  of  Rockcastle,  and  30 
feet  above  the  stream  is  a 38-inch  coal  which  also  seems  to 
belong  at  about  the  same  horizon.  Also  on  Mr.  W.  M. 
French’s  land  in  B 16-14  is  a 36-41  inch  coal  probably  best 
correlated  with  this  seam. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


31 


No  more  exposures  that  could  be  correlated  with  the 
No.  3 were  found  in  passing  up  the  Rockcastle  river  in  this 
county,  until  a short  distance  below  where  the  Lee  passes 
below  drainage. 

Here  we  have  in  B 5-18,  on  both  sides  of  the  river  a 35-38 
inch  coal  exposed  only  8 feet  above  the  ordinary  stage  of 
water.  There  is  a 25  to  35  foot  massive  sandstone  above. 
The  opening  on  the  Laurel  side  of  the  river  is  on  Harvey  Cor- 
nelius ’ land. 

Rockcastle  County — Rockcastle  Drainage. 

No.  1 Seam. — Quite  near  the  margin  of  the  Coal  Field, 
on  Joseph  Bullock’s  place  in  B 22-14,  is  a coal  27  inches  thick 
and  30  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Pennington,  which  appears 
to  be  No.  1.  It  is  on  the  south  side  of  the  Kinkead  Ridge 
in  the  Line  creek  drainage.  On  the  same  ridge  and  fur- 
ther out  toward  the  margin  of  the  Field  is  an  opening  on 
Mr.  W.  T.  Evans  place  showing  14  inches  of  coal  60  feet  above 
the  Newman  Limestone.  The  Pennington  may  possibly  be 
here  under  cover.  In  which  case  the  seam  would  be  near 
enough  to  the  base  of  the  Measures  to  be  correlated  with 
No.  1.  On  Buffalo  creek  in  the  southern  portion  of  the 
county  there  is  an  opening  on  a thin  coal  in  B 19-13,  which 
may  belong  to  this  horizon,  though  by  uncertain  measurement 
it  is  140  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Newman  Limestone. 

Further  north  in  the  Skaggs  Creek  Drainage,  in  the  ridge 
between  East  and  Dry  Forks  of  the  stream,  there  is  a seam 
which  has  been  extensively  worked  for  neighborhood  use  and 
to  supply  Mt.  Vernon.  It  is  provisionally  correlated  with 
No.  1,  though  if  the  Newman  Limestone  is  here  the  top 
member  of  the  Mississippian,  it  places  the  seam  rather  high 
up  above  the  base  of  the  Coal  Measures.  There  is  a strong 
probability,  however,  that  the  Pennington  is  here  present 


32 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


under  cover.  One  of  the  characteristics  by  which  this  coal 
may  be  identified  throughout  the  district  is  its  “cannel  slate’7 
roof. 

On  Mr.  0.  Niceley’s  land  in  B 22-17,  it  is  36  inches  thick 
under  6 to  8 inches  of  cannel  slate  and  80  feet  above  the  top 
of  the  Newman  Limestone. 

In  B 21-17  there  is  an  opening  on  land  belonging  to  the 
Ralph  heirs. 

In  B 21-17  there  is  also  an  opening  on  land  belonging  to 
Wade  Graves  which  is  85  feet  above  the  Newman  Limestone. 
It  is  here  45-50  feet  inches  thick  including  20  inches  of  a 
combustible  cannel  slate  on  top. 

In  B 21-19,  on  Buck  Cummin’s  land,  it  is  37  inches  thick 
with  12  inches  of  cannel  slate  on  top.  Its  height  above  the 
Newman  Limestone  is  about  100  feet.  Twenty  feet  below  the 
seam  is  a prominent  sandstone,  which  may  represent  the 
Livingston  Conglomerate. 

On  John  Marler’s  land,  in  B 22-19,  the  opening  on  the 
seam  shows  20  inches  of  coal  with  8 inches  of  cannel  slate 
above. 

At  the  head  of  Dry  Fork,  an  outlier  of  the  Coal  Measures 
occurs  in  B 22-19.  An  opening  has  been  made  here  on  a coal 
about  50  feet  above  the  Newman  Limestone. 

No.  2 Seam  has  not  been  identified  with  certainty  in  the 
lower  part  of  Rockcastle  county,  but  it  is  somewhat  probable 
that : 

No.  3 is  the  coal  opened  on  J.  L.  Cooper’s  land  in 
B 18-11  at  head  of  a small  branch  flowing  into  the  Rock- 
castle river.  It  is  41  inches  under  shale  and  235  feet  above 
the  top  of  the  Pennington. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


33 


Roundstone  Creek  Drainage — Mainly. 

No.  1 Seam  was  formerly  much  worked  in  vicinity  of 
Livingston.  There  are  few  openings  on  it  there  now.  It  is 
here  a double  seam  with  a 6 to  18  inch  clay  parting. 

By  the  side  of  the  Mt.  Vernon-Livingston  Road  in  B 
14-18  it  shows  np  51  inches  with  a 15  inch  clay  parting.  It 
is  here  35  feet  above  the  top  of  the  nearest  outcrop  of  New- 
man Limestone.  This  mine  belongs  to  Mr.  Henry  Owens. 

In  B 14-19  the  seam  has  been  opened  by  the  roadside  at 
Cal  Mullins,  showing  28  inches  of  coal  exclusive  of  a shale 
parting  6 to  18  inches  thick. 

In  B 15-19,  by  the  roadside  (road  to  Pine  Hill)  the  same 
coal  is  opened  36  inches  thick  and  35  feet  above  the  Newman 
Limestone. 

Analysis  of  the  coal  (No.  1 Seam!)  from  the  “Grisham 
Mine”  near  Livingston: 


Upper  ‘ brashy  '’ 

bower  9 inches 

two  feet. 

Block  Coal. 

Moisture 

2 20 

2.10 

Volatile  combustibles  . . . 

. . 35.86 

39.50 

Fixed  carbon 

...  54.94 

49.86 

Ash  

7.00 

8.54 

Sulphur . . 

4.302 

2.933 

Specific  Gravity 

1.327 

J.374 

On  Piney  Branch  of  Roundstone  creek  there  are  a number 
of  openings  on  coal  at  this  No.  1 horizon  as  well  as  on  the 
one  next  higher. 

To  No.  1 must  be  assigned  the  36  inch  coal  opened  near 
the  head  of  branch  on  Jeff.  Lovel’s  place.  This  is  in  B 19-20, 
40  feet  above  the  Newman  Limestone. 

In  the  same  minute  quadrangle  on  E.  W.  HansePs  place, 
near  the  Livingston  Mt.  Vernon  Road,  is  an  opening  now 
fallen  in  in  which  the  coal  was  65  feet  above  the  Newman 
Limestone. 


34 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


Not  far  from  Mt.  Vernon  at  a scliool-liouse  in  B 20-21  on 
this  same  Mt.  Vernon-Livingston  road  is  an  old  opening  now 
fallen  in,  and  in  B 20-22  still  nearer  Mt.  Vernon,  is  an  open- 
ing on  a very  thin  coal,  which  is  40  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
Newman  Limestone. 

At  Pine  Hill  near  the  Forks  of  the  two  prongs  of  Piney 
Branch  in  B 17-20,  there  has  been  considerable  development 
of  coal  and  clay.  Three  coals  show  in  this  section,  the  lowest 
45,  the  middle  70  and  the  top  one  200  feet  above  the  top  of 
the  Newman  Limestone. 

The  two  lower  coals  belong  to  the  No.  1 horizon.  It 
is  the  upper  division  of  No.  1 which  is  the  main  clay  seam 
here.  This  shows  10  feet  of  clay  with  a 12  inch  coal  seam 
4 feet  from  the  base  and  a 2 to  4 inch  coal  on  top.  An  analy- 
sis by  Dr.  Robert  Peter  in  1875  indicated  that  it  contained 
of  alkalies,  potash  3.083  and  of  soda  .524  per  cent. — too  much 
according  to  Dr.  Peter  to  permit  of  its  being  a refractory  clay. 
It  seems  admirably  adapted,  however,  for  compounding  with 
limestone  to  make  Portland  cement. 

The  only  other  openings  examined  in  Rockcastle  county, 
which  were  made  upon  a coal  seemingly  belonging  to  this 
horizon,  were  on  the  waters  of  Crooked  creek  in  B 11-23.  One 
of  these,  65  feet  above  the  Pennington  and  reported  38  inches 
thick,  is  on  the  land  of  John  Solomon,  and  the  other  in  Bar- 
nett Valley  on  Albert  Allen’s  land  is  30  inches  thick  and  45 
feet  above  the  Newman  Limestone. 

No.  2. — This  is  the  coal  that  lias  been  most  worked 
in  recent  years  about  Livingston.  In  the  hill  slope  to  the 
west  of  the  town  the  old  openings  now  fallen  in  were  on  a 
coal  at  this  horizon.  These  are  in  B 14-18. 

Across  Roundstone  creek,  in  B 13-19,  is  an  old  opening  70 
feet  above  the  top  of  the  Livingston  Conglomerate. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


35 


Across  the  Rockcastle  river,  blit  still  in  Rockcastle 
county  by  reason  of  the  boundary  taking  a short  cut  across 
the  narrow  portion  of  the  big  bend  in  the  river  instead  of 
following  it,  are  the  openings  of  the  New  Livingston  Coal  Co. 
A tram  car  line  operated  with  electricity  connects  the  mine 
with  the  railroad  at  a point  just  across  the  river  from  Liv- 
ingston. The  coal  is  32  to  40  inches  thick  and  about  120  feet 
above  the  top  of  the  Livingston  Conglomerate  here  20  feet 
above  the  river. 

Near  Sinks,  this  seam  is  24-25  inches  thick  and  110  feet 
above  the  top  of  the  Newman  Limestone,  which  here  lias  abun- 
dant Pentremities  in  it  and  is  therefore  probably  Ste.  Gene- 
vieve. The  Livingston  Conglomerate  here  rests  almost  directly 
upon  this  Limestone.  This  is  in  B 15-21. 

At  Pine  Hill  the  upper  and  main  coal  seems  best  identi- 
fied with  this  coal,  though  it  is  200  feet  above  the  base  of  the 
Coal  Measures,  and  might  possibly  be  No.  3.  It  is  28  to  30 
inches  thick. 

On  Brush  creek  at  the  mines  of  the  Big  Hill  Coal  Co., 
now  abandoned,  in  B 16-24,  this  seam  is  175  feet  above  the 
top  of  the  Newman  Limestone,  which  is  here  closely  succeeded 
by  about  25  feet  of  Livingston  Sandstone.  About  24  inches  of 
coal  shows  at  the  entrance,  but  in  other  portions  of  the  ridge, 
as  for  instance  in  B 14-26,  it  reaches  nearly  6 feet.  On  the 
Crooked  creek  side  at  L.  J.  Scott’s  it  is  110  feet  above  the 
water.  There  is  a 25  to  35-foot  massive  sandstone  above.  The 
Newman  Limestone  and  is  48  inches  thick.  In  the  ridge  be- 
tween Brush  creek  and  Roundstone  creek  there  are  old  open- 
ings indicating  the  presence  of  the  coal  there  about  50  feet 
below  the  top  of  the  ridge.  The  position  of  some  of  these 
openings  is  indicated  in  B 17-24  and  25. 


36 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


Trace  Branch  Tributary  to  Rockcastle  River. 

On  Jack  Sam’s  place  in  bed  of  the  Branch  in  about  B 
11-20,  is  a coal  which  may  belong  to  No.  2 or  No.  1.  It  is 
reported  34  to  35  inches  thick.  Sullivan  correlates  it  with 
the  “Spievy  Coal.”  It  is  here  about  25  feet  above  a sand- 
stone which  looks  like  the  Livingston.  On  Mr.  Wm.  Brum- 
met  ’s  place  in  B 12-19,  the  same  seam  is  16-18  inches  thick 
and  25  feet  above  the  same  sandstone. 

In  the  older  Chemical  Reports  of  the  Kentucky  Geological 
Survey  are  analyses  of  Rockcastle  county  coals  which  prob- 
ably belong  to  the  No.  2 Horizon. 

They  are  as  follows: 


Myzner 
and  Myer’s 
Bank, 
Livingston 
Entry  No.  ] 
'Crandall. ) 

Myzner 
and  Myer’s 
Bank, 
Livingston 
Entry  No.  2 
Crandall. 

Crooked 
Cr.  Coffee 
Br. 

36  in.  thick, 
Sullivan) 

“Spievy  Coal” 
near  Living- 
ston, 33  in. 
thick  and  84 
feet  above 
the  L i m e - 
stone. 

(Sullivan 

Tarlton  Clarks 
on  Brush  Cr. 

4 y2  mi.  from 
mouth  52  in. 
thick  and  85 
feet  abcve  the 
Limestone. 

Sullivan) 

Sp-gr  

Moisture 

1.318 

3.00 

1.357 

2.20 

3.80 

4.20 

4.40 

Volatile  combustibles:. . 

36.66 

36.60 

31.00 

33.70 

31.00 

Fixed  carbon 

61.94 

61.70 

66.20 

65.90 

60.20 

Ash  

9.40 

9.60 

9.00 

6.20 

4.40 

Sulphur 

2.206 

4.802 

0.412 

0.968 

0.494 

JACKSON  COUNTY. 


Mr.  Geo.  Sullivan  in  his  report  on  Jackson  county  enu- 
merates four  coals  averaging  respectively  about  15,  30,  45,  and 
55  feet  above  the  “Limestone,”  which  probably  all  refer  to 
Number  1.  He  also  enumerates  four  more  coals  above  these 
which  he  places  respectively  75  to  95,  120  to  160,  185  to  215, 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


37 


and  250  feet  above  the  “Limestone.”  Some  of  these  are  very 
thin,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  workable  seams  may  be  re- 
duced to  one  and  the  same  coal — the  Number  2. 

Horse  Lick  Drainage. 

No.  1. — The  lowest  member  of  this  group  is  generally 
a cannel  here.  On  Horse  Lick  itself,  near  the  mouth  of 
Raccoon  in  B 7-23,  this  portion  of  the  seam  shows  6 inches  of 
cannel  over  12  inches  of  common  coal.  According  to  Mr.  Sul- 
livan it  rests  directly  upon  the  Chester  (Pennington?). 
About  one-lialf  mile  above  this,  on  the  main  stream,  on  land 
belonging  to  Dave  Jackson  in  B 7-24,  this  same  coal  is  35 
inches  thick  and  20  feet  above  the  Yellow  Pennington  Lime- 
stone. This  is  evidently  the  “Jack  Carpenter”  coal  of  Mr. 
Sullivan,  estimated  by  him  to  be  36  inches  thick  and  15  feet 
above  the  Limestone.  The  same  seam,  where  it  shows  the 
cannel  phase,  was  formerly  opened  on  Dry  Fork  of  Horse  Lick 
in  B.  9-25.  The  land  here  is  now  owned  by  Judge  Goodloe. 
It  has  not  been  worked  for  so  long  a time  that  the  opening  has 
completely  fallen  in.  It  is  10  feet  above  the  (Newman?)  Lime- 
stone, and  seems  to  be  the  coal  referred  to  in  the  Sullivan  Re- 
port as  the  Ballard  Cannel  Coal  45  inches  thick.  This  coal 
was  formerly  hauled  to  Richmond  where  it  commanded  a good 
price.  On  Horse  Lick,  about  half  way  between  its  mouth  and 
the  mouth  of  Dry  Fork  on  James  Durham’s  land  in  B 9-22, 
is  a seam  25  inches  thick  under  8-10  feet  of  black  shale  with  a 
sandstone  (equals  Livingston?)  above  that.  The  seam  is 
10  feet  above  the  average  stage  of  the  water.  Mr.  Sullivan 
refers  to  a coal  on  Phillip’s  Branch  in  about  B 8-25,  which  he 
gives  as  22  inches  thick  and  30  feet  above  the  “Limestone.” 
He  also  speaks  of  its  being  opened  at  Jack  Jones’  on  Big 
Clover  Branch,  21  inches  thick  and  15  feet  above  the  “ Tame- 
stone.  ” The  upper  13  inches  is  cannel. 


38 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


On  tlie  old  Judge  Martin  place,  in  B 10-27,  there  is  a coal 
reported  by  Mr.  Sullivan  35  feet  above  tlie  “Limestone”  and 
30-36  inches  thick.  He  also  speaks  of  a coal  on  Dry  Fork  of 
Horse  Lick  which  is  12  inches  thick  and  50  feet  above  the 
“Limestone.” 

The  Geo.  Privit  opening,  in  about  B 7-28  on  Garden  Hol- 
low Branch  of  Big  Clover,  is  50-60,  feet  above  the  “Lime- 
stone” and  shows  a seam  30 J inches  thick  with  a one  inch 
shale  parting  23f  inches  from  the  base. 

On  Big  Clover  creek  itself,  Sullivan  describes  a coal  on 
Mace  Jones’  land  45  feet  above  the  “Limestone”  and  show- 
ing 52  inches  of  coal  with  a parting  of  9f  inches,  25  inches 
from  the  base. 

Mr.  Sullivan  also  reports  an  opening  near  Thos.  Alcorn’s 
store  on  Gravel  Lick  which  is  about  23  inches  thick  and  60 
feet  above  the  “Limestone.”  This  is  in  about  B 6-28. 

Analysis  of  the  foregoing  Horselick  coals. 


No.  2. — The  openings  and  exposures  which  are  most 
likely  upon  coal  belonging  to  this  horizon  are  as  follows: 

The  stain  at  the  Old  Judge  Martin  place,  85  feet  above 
the  top  of  the  “Limestone.” 

The  12-18  inch  coal  on  Big  Clover  creek  50  feet  above  the 
Mace  Jones  No.  1,  and  95  feet  above  the  “Limestone.” 

The  17  inch  coal  on  Sugar  Camp  Branch  75  feet  above 
the  “Limestone;”  the  Joes  Lick  Branch  opening  showing  36 
inches  of  coal  200  feet  above  the  “Limestone”  (Sullivan); 
the  Stone  Coal  Lick  exposure  in  bed  of  branch  in  B 6-25  one 


Jack  Carpenter  Ballard  Mace  Jones 
Coal  Cannel.  Coal. 

B7-24  B9-25 


Moisture 

Volatile  combustible. s. 

Fixed  carbon 

Ash 

Sulphur 


3.60  1.80  3.20 

33.20  42.40  32.10 

56.80  46.60  51.70 

6.40  9.20  13.00 

.494  .645  .08 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


39 


mile  from  the  mouth  and  200  feet  above  the  “Limestone”; 
the  opening  in  B 8-24  showing  25  inches  of  coal  170  feet 
above  the  “Limestone;”  probably  Mr.  Sullivan’s  Spice  Lick 
Coal  27  inches  thick  and  160  feet  above  the  “Limestone;” 
the  Si  Carpenter  opening  on  Dry  Fork,  27  inches  thick  and 
160  feet  above  the  “Limestone;”  the  Rock  Lick  Branch  of 
Big  Clover  creek  opening,  30  inches  thick  and  150  feet  above 
the  “Limestone”  (Sullivan);  the  Dry  Branch  opening  in 
B 6-25,  on  land  of  the  Thomas  heirs,  31  inches  thick  and  145 
feet  above  the  “Limestone”  (215  feet  according  to  Sullivan) ; 
an  opening  on  Gravel  Lick  Branch  of  Big  Clover,  36  inches 
thick  and  200  feet  above  the  “Limestone”  (Sullivan);  and 
finally  the  Phillips  Branch  opening  in  B 8-25,  about  20  inches 
thick  and  130  feet  above  the  “Limestone”  (Sullivan). 

The  analyses  of  coal  from  four  of  these  Horselick  Drain- 
age openings  are  as  follows: 


Brock  open- 
ing, Rock 
Dick  Branch 
of  Big 

Clover  Creek 

Joes  Branch 
opening 
of  Raccoon 
Creek 

Dry  Branch 
; opening 

1 

Wells  open- 
ing on 
Gravel  Dick 
Creek 

Moisture 

1.70 

1.70 

1.80 

3.20 

Volatile  combustibles. 

35.10 

37.60 

42.40 

32.80 

Fixed  carbon 

58.56 

49.10 

46.60 

55.80 

Ash  ....  

4.64 

11.60 

9.20 

8.20 

Sulphur 

.821 

2.307 

1 .645 

.782 

Middle  Fork  Drainage. 

No.  1.— I n B 1-23,  on  Sugar  Camp  Hollow  of  Laurel  Fork 
of  Middle  Fork  of  Rockcastle  river  is  a 24-inch  opening, 
which  probably  belongs  to  this  No.  1 coal  horizon.  This  is 
on  the  land  of  the  Rockcastle  Timber  Oil  and  Mining  Com- 
pany. 

In  B 1-27,  on  Birch  Lick  of  Indian  creek,  on  land  of  Dan 
Morris,  is  an  opening  at  horizon  of  No.  1,  which  is  re- 


40 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


ported  40  inches  thick.  A number  of  openings  have  been  made 
on  this  coal  up  Birch  Lick,  as  for  instance  on  land  of  Doc. 
Morris,  is  an  opening  at  horizon  of  No.  1,  which  is  reported 
coal,  65  feet  above  the  Newman  Limestone,  and  on  land  of 
W.  M.  Morris  in  B 2-28,  45  feet  above  the  same  Limestone. 

What  is  probably  the  same  coal  has  been  opened  one- 
fourth  mile  up  Stone  Coal  Branch.  It  is  here  28  inches  thick. 

Mr.  Sullivan  estimates  these  openings  to  be  30  feet  above 
the  “Limestone.-”  He  also  refers  to  an  opening  on  Hurst 
Branch  of  Birchlick  in  about  B 3-29  at  the  same  elevation  as 
the  last.  It  shows  a thickness  of  23  inches. 

On  Bills  Branch  of  Indian  creek,  near  McKee,  Mr.  Sulli- 
van locates  an  8-12  inch  coal  at  a distance  of  15-20  feet  above 
the  Chester  (Pennington),  which  he  takes  to  be  the  equivalent 
of  the  Horselick  Cannel  Seam. 

Lower  down  on  Indian  creek,  near  the  mouth  of  Outen 
Branch,  in  B 3-26,  are  two  openings,  one  on  the  east  side  of 
the  creek  on  Jake  Gabbards’,  and  the  other  on  the  west  side 
on  John  Roberts’  land.  These  show  a thickness  of  38  inches. 
The  height  above  the  Newman  Limestone  is  about  75  feet. 
Mr.  Sullivan  estimated  the  height  at  90  feet.  He  ranks  this 
as  the  5th  coal  in  the  series,  but  it  probably  belongs  to  No.  1. 

The  analysis  of  this  coal  from  samples  collected  near  the 
outcrop  is  as  follows : 


Moisture.  L(iO 

Volatile  Combustibles  27.80 

Fixed  Carbon 58.10 

Ash 10.00 

Sulphur -522 


No.  2. — In  the  Indian  Creek  Drainage  of  Middle  Fork 
this  coal  has  been  opened  on  Mr.  Isaacs’  place  on  May- 
apple  Branch  of  Birch  Lick  in  B 4-28.  it  is  here  200  feet 
above  the  Newman  Limestone  and  about  130  feet  above  No.  1, 
opened  on  the  same  branch. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


41 


On  Bills  Branch  of  Indian  creek  above  McKee,  on  land  of 
John  Lanceford  in  B 60-28,  is  an  opening  reported  four  feet 
thick,  but  it  is  almost  certainly  less.  It  is  65  feet  above  the 
bed  of  the  branch  below  and  145  feet  above  McKee,  which 
place  is  about  at  the  top  of  the  “ Limestone. 7 1 This  opening 
is  probably  the  same  as  Mr.  Sullivan \s  “Dickson  and  Harri- 
son Bank”,  which  he  estimates  to  be  36  inches  thick  and  95 
feet  above  the  Chester  (Pennington). 

On  the  west  prong  of  Indian  creek,  about  one  mile  from 
the  mouth  at  McKee  and  in  B 60-27,  is  an  opening  on  land  of 
Mrs.  Hignite  which  shows  28  inches  under  shale  and  over 
clay.  Another  nearby  opening  shows  26  inches.  This  is  about 
115  feet  above  the  top  of  the  “Limestone,”  reckoning  the  top 
of  the  Limestone  to  be  at  McKee.  This  is  probably  the  open- 
ing which  Mr.  Sullivan  estimates  to  be  125  feet  above  the 
Chester  (Pennington). 

On  Mash  Branch  near  the  head  of  Birch  Lick,  Mr.  Sulli- 
van refers  to  a coal  29  inches  thick  which  is  150  feet  above 
the  “Limestone.” 

Below  is  an  analysis  of  coal  from  the  Dickson-Harrison 
Bank: 


Moisture 3.40 

Volatile  combustibles 36.60 

Fixed  carbon 57.70 

Ash... 6.30 

Sulphur 1.648 


As  other  openings  on  a coal  in  the  Rockcastle  Drainage 
which  may  be  No.  2,  may  be  mentioned  one  exposed  in 
bed  of  Robinson  Branch  in  B 8-21,  and  on  Mill  Creek  about 
one  third  of  a mile  from  its  mouth  where  it  empties  into 
Laurel  Fork.  The  latter  is  in  B 60-24  and  is  22-24  inches 
thick.  It  is  60  feet  above  Laurel  Fork. 


42 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOCxICAL  SURVEY. 


Station  Camp  Creek  Drainage. 

No.  1. — 'One  of  this  group  of  coals  has  been  opened  in 
this  drainage  at  a height  averaging  about  50  feet  above  the 
base  of  the  Lee  Formation. 

On  the  Big  Hill  Ridge  at  the  head  waters  of  Silver,  Clear 
and  South  Fork  of  Station  Camp  creeks  where  the  counties  of 
Jackson,  Madison  and  Rockcastle  join,  a number  of  openings 
have  been  made  on  this  seam,  and  formerly  considerable  coal 
was  mined  and  shipped  out  by  wagon  to  Richmond.  At  Andy 
McGuire’s  Coal  Bank  in  B 14-32,  a little  over  the  line  in  Rock- 
castle county,  the  seam  is  34  inches  thick  and  30  feet  above 
the  Newman  Limestone.  The  top  six  inches  is  a cannel  shale. 
At  the  old  Cox  opening  on  Big  Hill,  about  45  feet  above  the 
“Limestone”  (Sullivan),  it  is  36  inches  thick. 

The  analyses  of  coal  from  this  vicinity  are  as  follows: 


Moisture 

Old  Cox 
Opening 

2.66 

M.  Moran 
Bank. 

1.90 

Volatile  combustibles 

33.68 

45.76 

Fixed  carbon.  

56.16 

44.86 

Ash 

7.60 

7.48 

Sulphur 

824 

2.888 

West  of  here,  in  Bear  Knob  in  Madison  county,  in  B 
16-32  and  33,  this  coal  shows  up  40  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
highest  Newman  Limestone. 

In  B 12-32  and  13-32  there  are  a number  of  old  coal  open- 
ings by  the  side  of  the  Berea-Clover  Bottom  road.  These  are 
now  fallen  in  and  the  thickness  could  not  be  obtained. 

On  land  of  Mr.  Curtis  Lane,  in  B 10-32,  this  seam  is  by 
aneroid  55  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Newman  Limestone  (by 
hand  leveling  68-78  feet). 

On  Mr.  Ike  Dean’s  place  in  B 10-31  the  seam  is  55  feet 
above  the  Newman  Limestone.  The  opening  is  now  fallen  in. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


43 


On  Mr.  Dan  Click’s  place,  in  B 9-31,  it  is  36  inches  thick 
and  65  feet  above  the  Newman  Limestone. 

In  B 11-33  there  is  a bloom  of  an  18  inch  coal,  55  feet 
above  the  Newman  Limestone,  which  doubtless  represents 
this  seam. 

On  Mr.  Jones’  land  in  B 8-32  the  seam  is  40  feet  above 
the  Newman  Limestone  and  23  inches  thick.  Here  it  is  over- 
laid by  about  three  inches  of  cannel  shale. 

Oh  Lafe  Williams  land,  in  B 8-32,  there  is  a seam  90  feet 
above  the  Newman  Limestone  and  24  inches  thick,  which  may 
be  this  coal  or  the  one  next  above. 

On  Mr.  Jas.  Powell’s  place  in  B 7-33,  just  over  the  divide 
in  the  Bed  Lick  Drainage  is  an  opening  now  fallen  in  on  a 
seam  92  feet  above  the  nearest  outcrop  of  Newman  Limestone 
and  62  feet  above  a pebbly  sandstone  which  looks  like  it  must 
be  the  Livingston  Conglomerate.  This  seam  may  be  No.  2 
instead  of  No.  1. 

There  is  a strong  probability  that  all  of  these  openings 
are  upon  the  same'  seam,  though  the  last  two  may  b,e  on  the 
one  next  higher. 

On  Cavenaugh  creek,  a tributary  of  South  Fork  of  Sta- 
tion Camp  from  the  south  near  the  mouth  of  the  latter  on  land 
belonging  to  Elihu  Lakes  in  B 58-31  is  an  opening  on  a seam 
36  inches  thick  at  the  entrance  and  35  to  40  feet  above  the  top 
of  the  Newman  Limestone.  The  upper  12  inches  of  this  seam 
is  cannel.  On  Turkey  Foot  Branch  of  War  Fork  of  Station 
Camp  on  land  of  Thomas  heirs  in  B 55-28  is  an  exposure  for- 
merly worked  that  seems  to  be  about  at  the  same  horizon  as  the 
previously  described  coal.  Mr.  Sullivan  reports  a coal  near 
the  head  of  Turkey  Foot  Branch  which  may  be  the  same 
coal  or  the  one  next  higher.  He  gives  it  as  41  inches  thick 
and  75  feet  above  the  “Limestone.” 


44 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


Tlie  analysis  of  this  coal  is  as  follows: 


Moisture 4.40 

Volatile  combustibles 36.60 

Fixed  carbon 55.90 

Ash 3.10 

Sulfur 1.098 


It  is  very  doubtful  if  any  Lee  coal  higher  than  No.  2 
can  be  identified  in  Jackson  county,  though  the  35-38  inch 
coal  already  referred  to  as  opened  on  both  sides  of  the  Rock- 
castle river  in  B 5-18,  and  the  12  inch  coal  described  by  Mr. 
Sullivan  as  exposed  on  Mr.  T.  J.  Ballard’s  place  by  side  of 
the  old  State  Road  at  the  top  of  the  ridge  in  about  A 10-26, 
may  represent  the  Barren  Fork  Seam.  The  height  of  the  lat- 
ter exposure  above  the  Newman  Limestone  is  250  feet. 

ESTILL  COUNTY. 

Very  little  coal  bearing  strata  occur  in  this  county.  This 
is  because  the  rapid  westward  rising  of  the  strata  along  the 
margin  of  the  Field  has  permitted  denudation  to  remove  the 
Measures  from  all  but  the  tops  of  the  highest  ridges. 

These  consist  exclusively  of  the  Lee  Formation,  to  which 
in  this  region  a maximum  thickness  of  350  feet  may  be 
assigned.  This  thickness  is  attained  only  along  the  eastern 
border  of  the  county,  where  there  are  normally  developed  in 
it  two  massive  sandstones.  The  lower  one  is  from  10  to  25 
feet  thick  and  usually  about  85  feet  above  the  base  of  the 
measures.  It  is  non-pebbly.  The  upper  may  reach  a thick- 
ness of  about  150  feet  with  the  base  of  it  80  to  100  feet  above 
the  top  of  the  Lower  Sandstone.  It  is  invariably  eonglomer- 
itic. 

Only  one  coal,  the  No.  1,  is  certainly  known  to  occur 
in  this  county.  Its  farthest  western  exposure  is  in  C 
3-38  (Richmond  Quadrangle),  on  land  of  John  Adams,  on 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


45 


ridge  between  Red  Lick  and  headwaters  of  Drowning  creek. 
It  is  here  only  about  20  inches  thick  and  within  12  feet  of  the 
base  of  the  Coal  Measures. 

The  bloom  of  this  coal  occurs  within  20  feet  of  the  top  of 
the  Newman  Limestone  along  the  Dividing  Ridge  just  east 
of  the  Station  Camp  creek,  and  was  at  one  time  opened  in 
C 57-39  on  Tom  Lunsford’s  place.  There  is  a bloom  of  a thin 
coal  in  C 55-37  on  this  ridge  which  may  possibly  mark  the 
place  of  No.  2.  It  is  here  about  135  feet  above  top  of  nearest 
outcrop  of  Newman  Limestone. 

Joseph  Lesley  in  the  report  which  has  been  referred  to, 
mentions  the  occurrence  of  this  coal  near  the  Estill  Furnace 
and  gives  its  thickness  as  24  inches. 

OWSLEY  COUNTY. 

A narrow  belt  of  Lee  marked  by  the  outcrop  of  a mass- 
ive sandstone,  which  seems  to  correspond  to  the  Corbin,  ex- 
tends up  Main  and  Little  Sturgeon  creeks  nearly  to  the  heads, 
and  up  South  Fork  of  the  Kentucky  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
county,  but  no  workable  coals  occur  in  it. 

On  Main  Sturgeon  near  where  Little  Sturgeon  joins  it 
(Manchester  Quadrangle  49-29)  on  Mr.  H.  G.  Brandenberg’s 
place  is  a thin  coal  (12-14  inches  thick)  in  the  middle  of  a 
sandstone  cliff  which  marks  the  place  of  No.  2. 

LEE  COUNTY. 

By  rather  striking  coincidence,  that  portion  of  the  Coal 
Measures  which  is  so  typically  developed  in  Lee  county, 
Va.,  also  constitutes  the  leading  formation  for  Lee  county, 
Ky.  In  the  western  part  of  the  county  the  stratigraphy  is 
much  the  same  as  in  the  neighboring  portion  of  Estill.  The 
thickness  is  about  the  same  (350  to  400  feet)  and  there  are 
the  same  two  sandstones  with  about  the  same  interval  between. 


46 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


In  passing  eastward,  however,  into  the  drainage  of  Sturgeon 
creek,  South  Fork,  and  the  two  small  streams,  Crystal  and 
Silver  creeks,  flowing  into  the  Kentucky  at  Beattyville,  they 
lose  their  massive  and  other  distinctive  characters  (especially 
the  conglomeritic  for  the  upper  sandstone)  and  become  split 
up  into  a number  of  thinner  lenses.  This  is  particularly  true 
in  the  region  adjacent  to  Beattyville. 

Eastward  from  the  longitude  of  Beattyville  there  is  a 
strong  southeast  dip  which  rapidly  carries  these  different 
sandstones  below  drainage  and  the  uppermost  one  finally  dis- 
appears from  view  on  the  South  Fork  a short  distance  over 
the  line  in  Breathitt  county. 

On  the  North  Fork  the  top  member  of  the  Conglomerate 
Series  remains  higher  above  the  level  of  the  stream  than  at 
corresponding  positions  on  the  Middle  Fork,  and  at  the  east- 
ern edge  of  the  Beattyville  Quadrangle,  which  is  over  the 
line  in  Breathitt  county,  it  is  still  a considerable  distance 
above  drainage.  The  pebbly  character  of  the  sandstones  is 
also  here  quite  pronounced. 

No.  1 Coal. — South  of  the  Kentucky  River  the  No.  1 Coal 
has  been  opened  in  C 53-35  on  Ross  Creek,  where  it  is  39 
inches  thick  under  black  shale  and  about  20  feet  above  top  of 
Newman  Limestone.  This  is  on  Williams-Congleton  land. 
Traces  of  this  coal  may  be  seen  on  Sturgeon  creek,  but  it  is 
very  thin.  The  main  coal  here  is: 

No.  2 (Beattyville)  Coal. — The  No.  2 coal  is  generally 
known  in  Lee  county  by  the  name  “Beattyville  Coal.”  While 
as  we  have  already  noted  the  horizon  of  this  coal  occurs  on 
this  creek  in  Owsley  county,  it  is  not  till  the  boundary  line 
is  passed  into  Lee  county  that  this  coal  attains  a thickness 
to  make  it  commercially  valuable. 

In  C 49-31  on  land  belonging  to  Judge  Gourley  this  seam 
occurs  just  on  top  of  the  lowest  sandstone  cliff  fronting  the 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


47 


creek  and  at  an  elevation  of  about  120  feet  above  the  nearest 
outcrop  of  Newman  Limestone.  It  is  here  41  inches  thick. 
The  same  seam  shows  up  in  bed  of  Stone  Coal  Branch  in 
same  minute  quadrangle.  Also  in  50-32  on  Upper  Sinking 
creek  near  the  mouth  the  seam  is  found  32  inches  thick  at 
the  entrance  and  130  feet  above  the  Newman  Limestone. 

On  Duck  Fork  of  Sturgeon  this  coal  has  been  opened  in 
C 47-32  by  the  L.  & A.  Coal  Co.,  who  are  constructing  a 
branch  road  out  to  the  Mines  from  Heidelberg.  It  is  re- 
ported here  as  42  inches  thick,  but  the  writer  found  the  maxi- 
mum thickness  near  the  entrance  to  be  37  inches.  It  is  here 
40  feet  above  Duck  Fork  and  100  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
Newman  Limestone  exposed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Fork.  The 
southward  dip  here  would  increase  this  interval  to  perhaps 
130  feet. 

The  coal  goes  under  drainage  a little  above  the  forks  of 
Duck  Fork  in  C 46-32.  It  is  here  reported  38  inches  thick. 
It  has  the  same  strati  graphical  relations  on  Duck  Fork  as 
on  Main  Sturgeon,  being  just  above  a prominent  sandstone, 
with  another  sandstone  cliff  some  30  to  40  feet  high  about 
30  feet  above  this  lower  cliff. 

Between  the  mouth  of  Sturgeon  and  where  the  coal  passes 
below  drainage  of  the  Kentucky  river  a short  distance  above 
Beattyville,  it  is  exposed  and  mined  at  the  “Norman  Mine” 
in  C 44-34.  It  is  here  100  feet  above  the  Kentucky  river. 
In  the  days  of  river  transportation  for  this  coal  it  was  also 
mined  at  a number  of  points  on  the  south  side  of  the  river 
between  here  and  Beattyville,  but,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Norman  Mine,  all  of  these  have  been  abandoned. 

In  the  town  of  Proctor,  the  bloom  of  this  coal  shows  in 
the  road  at  an  elevation  above  the  river  of  about  100  feet. 

In  passing  up  the  South  Fork  the  bloom  also  shows  from 
point  to  point  till  the  coal  finally  passes  below  drainage  in 


48 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


about  C 42-33.  Prof.  Joseph  Lesley  gives  the  elevation 
A.  T.  of  the  A.  McGuire  bank  on  the  South  Pork  as  610. 

A short  distance  above  the  bridge  across  the  river  at 
Beattyville  old  openings  now  fallen  in  indicate  a height  for 
the  coal  above  the  river  of  about  25-30  feet.  This  points  to 
a sharp  dip  up  stream  from  Proctor,  and  indeed  a short  dis- 
tance further  on  the  coal  seems  to  have  sunken  beneath  the 
river.  Prof.  Joseph  Lesley  gives  the  elevation  A.  T.  of  the 
“Todd  bank  on  the  Main  River  above  Proctor  as  680  feet.” 

North  of  the  Kentucky  River. 

North  of  the  Kentucky  river,  the  No.  1 coal  has  been 
opened  on  the  Right  Fork  of  Contrary  Creek  in  C 45-36.  It 
is  here  18  to  24  inches  thick  and  21  feet  above  the  Newman 
Limestone. 

In  the  drainage  of  Millers  Creek  this  seam  has  been 
opened  in  C 48-39  and  45-39.  In  the  former  minute  quad- 
rangle  where  it  is  on  land  belonging  to  the  Pulaski  Timber 
and  Stave  Co.,  it  is  25  to  26  inches  thick  and  about  40  feet 
above  the  top  of  nearest  exposed  Newman  Limestone.  A con- 
glomerate cliff  75  to  100  feet  thick  caps  the  hill  above  the  base 
of  the  cliff,  being  about  125  feet  above  the  coal  seam. 

The  seam  in  45-39  is  24  inches  thick  and  about  15  feet 
above  top  of  the  Newman  Limestone.  It  has  been  mined 
here  for  use  on  the  Narrow  Gauge  Railroad,  which  runs  about 
65  feet  below  along  the  dry  bed  of  the  sunken  Sinking  creek. 
The  presence  of  this  coal  is  also  reported  on  Little  Sinking 
creek  in  about  C 45-41,  and  also  on  Billys  Fork  of  Millers 
creek  which  forms  the  boundary  between  Lee  and  Estill 
counties.  It  is  here  near  the  head  of  the  Fork  in  C 45-44 
and  44-44. 

No.  2.  — This  has  been  extensively  worked  in  the 
vicinity  of  Beattyville  in  C 42-35  and  36  and  C 43-35  and  36 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


49 


In  these  minute  quadrangles  the  openings,  now  mostly  aban- 
doned, are  on  both  sides  of  Crystal  and  Silver  creeks.  The 
latter  is  better  known  in  the  region  as  Stufflebean.  The  coal 
does  not  appear  to  be  over  22  inches  thick  on  Crystal  creek. 
It  is  always  about  10  feet  below  a massive  sandstone  cliff 
which  is  from  10  to  15  feet  thick.  The  dip  of  the  coal  is 
down  stream.  The  only  mines  at  present  worked  on  Crystal 
creek  belong  to  the  McGuire  Coal  Company.  The  only  mine 
operating  on  Silver  creek  is  the  Richardson  with  its  openings 
in  a deserted  valley  of  a stream  connecting  with  Silver  creek 
on  the  east  and  the  Kentucky  river  at  a point  about  a 
mile  belowT  town  and  which  is  traversed  by  the  L.  & A.  Rail- 
road in  getting  into  Beatty ville.  The  coal  is  about  36  inches 
thick  in  this  mine  and  its  elevation  above  Silver  creek  is  about 
70  feet. 

On  Mr.  John  Steel ’s  land  the  coal  shows  up  24  inches  at 
entrance  (31  inches  further  back).  On  the  opposite  side  of 
the  creek  is  an  opening  on  Judge  Gourley’s  land.  These 
two  openings  are  in  43-36.  The  same  stratigraphic  relations 
obtain  on  Silver  as  on  Crystal  creek.  West  of  the  Richardson 
Mine  other  openings  now  abandoned  show  on  the  sides  of  the 
deserted  valley  to  where  it  joins  on  to  that  of  the  Kentucky 
river.  Joseph  Lesley’s  elevation  for  the  Stufflebean  openings 
is  717  A.  T. 

The  next  mines  operated  below  here  are  those  of  the 
Beatty  ville  Block  on  Mikes  Branch  in  C 44-35  and  of  the 
White  Ash  Coal  Company  on  Derrickson  Branch  in  C 45-34. 
Joseph  Lesley’s  elevation  for  the  Phillips  bank  on  Mikes 
Branch  is  762  A.  T. 

The  thickness  in  these  two  mines  is  about  the  same  34  to 
44  inches  and  the  elevation  above  tide,  as  given  by  aneroid, 
about  710  feet  (110  feet  above  the  Kentucky  river).  The  dip 
of  the  coal  as  calculated  by  Joseph  Lesley  is  f of  a degree 
S.  52  degrees  E. 


50 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


The  farthest  down  the  river  this  coal  lias  been  traced  is 
to  Heidelberg,  where  there  is  an  opening  back  of  the  village 
which  shows  24  inches  of  coal  at  the  entrance  and  is  140  feet 
above  the  top  of  the  Yellow  Pennington  Limestone.  This 
opening  and  exposure  of  Pennington,  which  is  the  farthest 
north  this  latter  has  been  traced,  is  in  C 46-34. 


POWELL  COUNTY. 

No.  1. — Openings  on  a coal  within  ten  to  thirty  feet 
below  base  of  the  Conglomerate  Cliff,  which  seems  to  be  the 
lower  sandstone  lens,  are  reported  on  the  head  of  South  Fork 
of  Red  river  in  C 48-47,  and  near  High  Rock  in  C 47-48  is  an 
opening,  now  fallen  in,  which  is  30  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
Newman  Limestone.  Prof.  Lesley  describes  this  as  a “double 
bed”  each  part  being  12  inches  thick  with  4 feet  of  shale 
between,  and  the  lowest  15  feet  above  the  “sub  carboniferous 
Limestone.  ’ ’ 

In  C 43-49,  on  Clear  Branch,  tributary  to  Middle  Fork,  is 
an  opening  not  now  worked  which  is  24  inches  thick  and  15 
feet  above  the  top  of  the  Newman  Limestone.  On  the  same 
stream  and  in  C 42-48  this  coal  is  17  to  24  inches  thick  and 
15  feet  8 inches  above  the  Limestone.  Coal  is  now  mined  from 
this  latter  opening  by  Ase  Bowen. 

On  Mill  creek  traces  of  a coal  very  close  up  under  the 
Main  Conglomerate  Cliff  is  found  which  is  very  thin.  It  is 
also  within  50  feet  of  the  top  of  the  Newman  Limestone,  here 
very  thin.  This  coal  is  probably  No.  1.  It  is  too  thin 
to  be  worked.  In  C 41-48  is  an  opening  on  the  No.  1, 
which  is  24  inches  thick  under  shale  and  within  20  feet  of  the 
top  of  the  Newman  Limestone.  It  is  beside  the  Mountain 
Central  Narrow  Gauge  Railroad  and  from  it  coal  has  been  ob- 
tained for  use  on  the  engines  of  this  road. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


51 


These  comprise  the  known  openings  of  any  consequence 
in  Powell  county  though  the  presence  of  No.  1 has  been 
noted  on  the  north  side  of  Main  Red  river  along  the  tribu- 
taries Spruce  and  Short  creeks. 

The  presence  of  No.  2 has  not  certainly  been  rec- 
ognized. It  appears  to  be  cut  out. 

WOLFE  COUNTY. 

No.  1 coal  is  known  to  occur  on  Mill  creek  and  in  the 
drainage  of  Main  Red  river  as  far  up  as  the  mouth  of  Swift’s 
Camp  Creek,  as  for  instance  on  Chimney  Top,  but  there  are 
no  openings  on  it  of  importance. 

No.  2 coal  seems  to  be  absent  entirely. 

MENEFEE  COUNTY  * 

No.  1 Seam  is  generally  present  at  a distance  not  greater 
than  50  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Newman  Limestone,  here 
mainly  St.  Genevieve  and  ranging  in  thickness  from  10  to  70 
feet. 

It  appears  to  be  best  developed  on  waters  of  Indian 
creek  where  it  has  been  mined  considerably. 

In  C 38-56  at  the  Cope  Mine  it  is  28  inches  thick,  includ- 
ing about  6 inches  cannel  at  the  top.  It  is  here  40-50  feet 
above  the  Newman  Limestone. 

In  39-56  on  Amos’  Fork  it  is  mined  by  the  Red  River 
Railroad  Company.  It  is  here  31  inches  thick  and  is  higher 
than  25  feet  above  the  Limestone.  Prof.  Lesley  refers  to  a 
coal  on  “Amet’s  Branch  which  is  double,  there  being  12  feet 
between  the  two  thin  veins.” 

*For  information  concerning  the  coals  of  Menefee  county  see  Bulletin 
No.  10,  on  the  Coals  of  the  Licking  Valley,  etc.,  by  A.  R.  Crandall. — C.  J.  N. 


52 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


Iii  41-56  it  is  reported  30  inches  thick  on  0.  S.  Ingram’s 
place.  Also  on  II.  H.  Profit’s  land  in  41-56  it  is  reported  22-23 
inches  thick.  There  are  a number  of  abandoned  openings  at 
the  head  of  Indian  creek  in  C 41-57,  and  also  lower  down  in 
41-55  on  Spass  creek  there  is  an  opening  in  C 54-43. 

At  the  head  of  Middle  Fork  of  Cane  creek  in  C 47-55,  56 
is  an  abandoned  opening. 

This  seam  was  formerly  worked  in  the  hill  to  the  north 
of  Rotliwell  in  43-56. 

South  of  Frenchburg,  the  coal  was  formerly  worked  by 
the  side  of  the  Old  State  Road  where  it  descends  from  the 
ridge  on  to  the  waters  of  Beaver  creek.  These  openings  are 
in  C 38-57. 

Further  down  Beaver  creek,  at  a point  just  south  of 
Scranton  in  31-59,  this  seam  is  at  present  worked  at  George 
Wooten’s.  It  shows  24  inches  thick  at  the  entrance  and  is 
within  10  feet  of  the  Limestone. 

No.  2 Seam  is  not  known  to  exist  in  this  county. 

THE  BREATHITT  FORMATION. 

By  the  term  “Breathitt  Formation,”  Mr.  Campbell  in- 
cluded all  the  Coal  Measures  of  the  London  Quadrangle 
which  lay  above  the  Corbin  Conglomerate.  He  refers  to 
them  as  “composed  of  shale  and  sandstone  with  occasional 
coal  seams,  but  with  no  individual  bed  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  be  shown  as  an  independent  formation.” 

He  assigns  to  the  formation  in  the  vicinity  of  London  a 
thickness  of  550  feet,  but  nowhere  attempts  to  define  the 
upper  limits. 

Prof.  Crandall,  in  his  report  previously  referred  to,  de- 
scribes them  under  the  term  “Measures  above  the  Con- 
glomerate.” We  have  already  found  that  this  leaves  their 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


53 


base  not  very  accurately  defined,  as  Prof.  Crandall  generally 
failed  to  recognize  the  distinctness  of  the  Corbin  as  a sep- 
arate division  of  the  Conglomerate,  or  even  the  presence  of 
its  horizon  where  it  had  lost  its  eonglomeritic  character.  We 
find  him  therefore  sometimes  mapping  it  with  the  Rockcastle 
Series  and  sometimes  with  the  “ Measures  above  the  Con- 
glomerate. ’ ’ 

As  an  illustration  of  his  failure  to  detect  the  presence  of 
the  Corbin  in  the  district  where  it  is  present  but  non-con- 
glomeritic  and  indeed  hardly  even  sandy,  may  be  cited  his 
reference  to  his  “No.  1 coal”  (the  Lily  Coal)  at  Albert 
Mahan’s,  on  Paint  Branch  of  Jellico  creek,  in  Whitley 
county  as  being  there  nearly  100  feet  above  the  Conglomerate 
Measures.  In  reality  it  is  there  as  close  to  the  top  of  the  Cor- 
bin horizon  as  in  any  other  section,  and  in  the  region  under 
discussion  this  interval  is  never  more  than  30  feet. 

Prof.  Crandall  assigns  a thickness  of  a little  over  700 
feet  to  his  Measures  above  the  Conglomerate  in  Whitley 
county. 

The  Williamsburg  Sheet  in  its  southern  part  gives  con- 
tours enough  for  1,200  feet  of  measures  above  the  Con- 
glomerate.* 

Prof.  Crandall,  like  Mr.  Campbell,  made  no  attempt  to 
define  the  upper  limits  of  any  formation  which  had  as  its  base 
a contact  with  the  Conglomerate  Series. 

The  former  noted  in  the  lower  two  hundred  feet  of  the 
Measures  above  the  Conglomerate  the  presence  of  calcareous 
concretions,  which  are  so  characteristic  of  the  horizon  of  the 
first  coal  above  the  Conglomerate  in  the  northeastern  portion 
of  the  State.  They  seem  to  be  distributed  through  a greater 

*It  should  be  understood,  however,  that  the  Williamsburg  topographic 
sheet,  hurriedly  prepared  some  years  ago  by  the  U.  S.  Geoioglcal  Survey,  is 
admittedly  subject  to  considerable  correction. — C .J.  N. 


54 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


thickness  of  the  strata,  however.  He  also  calls  attention  to 
the  presence  of  “ochreous  clays”  in  this  portion  of  the 
formation. 

Topographically  this  formation  is  very  different  (from  the 
Lee  when  the  latter  has  its  conglomerate  members  well  de- 
veloped. 

In  striking  contrast  to  the  Hat  table-like  ridges  of  the 
Conglomerate  outcrops,  with  the  deep  gorges  incised  into  them 
by  the  streams,  and  giving  to  the  landscape  as  looked  at  from 
a distance  and  somewhat  from  above  the  not  inapt  appella- 
tion 4 ‘Flatwoods,”  lower  Breathitt  topography  is  character- 
ized by  rounded  hills,  even  slopes  and  wide  valleys.  With 
the  coming  in,  however,  of  intercalated  sandstones  in  the 
shales,  the  country  rises  abruptly  to  a level  500  to  1,000  feet 
higher.  This  in  the  southern  part  of  the  area — that  south 
of  the  Cumberland  river — is  known  as  “Jellico  Mountain.” 

The  change  in  the  character  of  the  vegetation,  especially 
the  timber  growth,  in  passing  from  the  Lee  to  the  Breathitt 
is  as  marked  as  the  change  in  the  topography.  The  pine  and 
the  hemlock  disappear  and  the  chestnut  is  less  common.  On 
the  other  hand  the  oaks  increase  in  variety  and  luxuriance  of 
growth.  As  especially  characteristic  may  be  mentioned  the 
Willow  Oak  (Quercus  pliellos)  and  the  Laurel  oak  (Quercus 
laurifolia).  Among  other  hard  wood  trees  the  Black  gum 
(Nyssa  multiflora)  is  particularly  abundant. 

THE  COALS  OF  THE  BREATHITT  FORMATION. 
WHITLEY  COUNTY. 

Prof.  Crandall  in  his  report  on  Whitley  county,  enumer- 
ates nine  seams  in  the  Measures  above  the  Conglomerate. 
Whether  all  of  these  will  be  finally  included  in  the  Breathitt 
is  yet  to  be  determined.  Not  all  of  these  coals  are  workable. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY 


55 


By  far  the  most  important  of  them  is  the  one  known  as  the 
Main  Jellico  Seam.  This  is  the  seventh  workable  coal,  count- 
ing from  the  base  of  the  Coal  Measures — the  fourth,  counting 
from  the  base  of  the  Breathitt  in  accordance  with  the  num- 
bering of  coals  in  Kentucky  inaugurated  by  Owen.* 

This  is  as  high  up  in  the  series  as  the  writer’s  investiga- 
tions extended.  The  other  seams  in  ascending  order  from  the 
base  of  the  Breathitt  are  the  Lily  and  the  Lower  and  Upper 
Blue  Gems  (the  latter  sometimes  corrupted  to  “Blue  Jim”  by 
the  miners).  These  two  Blue  Gems  are  not  thick  enough  to  be 
worked  under  any  considerable  extent  of  territory.  In  the 
southern  part  of  the  Field  the  Lower  Blue  Gem  seems  to  be 
workable  only  in  the  vicinity  of  Corbin.  Here  on  Bacon 
creek  it  has  been  extensively  opened  for  local  use.  I have 
named  it  the  Bacon  Creek  Seam. 

As  measured  by  the  writer,  the  intervals  between  the 
foregoing  four  coals  of  the  Breathitt,  starting  at  the  base,  are 
about  150,  70  and  90  feet  respectively. 

The  Lily  Seam.  No.  4. — This  is  the  No.  1 of  the  older 
writers  on  Kentucky  stratigraphy.  It  is  named  from  Lily, 
a station  in  Laurel  county  on  the  Louisville  & Nashville 
Kailroad. 

This  coal  horizon  is  probably  the  most  persistent  of  any 
in  Kentucky.  It  lias  been  identified  as  present  where  due  at 
so  many  points  in  the  Eastern  Coal  Field,  just  back  of  the 
outcrop  of  the  Lee  Formation,  as  to  make  it  probable  that 
it  will  some  day  be  mapped  in  continuous  outcrop  all  the  way 

*Prof.  Crandall  correlates  the  Jellico  seam  with  the  Klkhorn  bed  of  the  Big 
Sandy  and  Kentucky  River  regions,  which  was  formerly  tentatively  regarded  as 
uNo.  3”  of  the  Boyd-Greenup-Carter- Lawrence  section  by  Prof.  Crandall,  Mr. 
Hodge,  and  Mr.  Sullivan.  Those  gentlemen,  whose  experience  has  been  longer 
and  whose  field-work  has  been  broader,  in  the  Eastern  Coalfield  of  Kentucky,  than 
that  of  other  geologists,  did  not  give  a definite  number  to  each  bed  of  coal,  thick 
or  thin,  for  reasons  which  appear  in  their  reports.  The  report  of  Mr.  Hodge  on 
the  Coals  of  the  Three  Forks  of  the  Kentucky  River,  and  that  of  Prof.  Crandall  and 
Mr.  Sullivan  on  the  Coals  of  the  Pineville  Gap  Region,  afford  illustrations  of  the  diffi- 
culties attending  the  numbering  of  coals.  As  the  result  of  more  recent  work  in 
the  Big  Sandy  Valley,  Prof.  Crandall  now  considers  the  Elkhorn  seam  as  the 
southward  extension  of  the  “No.  1“  coal  of  the  section  for  Boyd,  Greenup,  Carter, 
and  Lawrence  counties. — C.  J.  N. 


56 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


across  the  State  from  where  it  enters  from  Tennessee  to 
where  it  leaves  in  passing  across  the  Ohio  river  into  Ohio. 

In  the  region  under  discussion  it  is  seldom  over  three 
feet  thick.  Occasionally  it  thickens  up  to  six  feet.  Some- 
times it  is  split  up. 

In  coming  north  on  the  Cincinnati  Southern  Railroad  the 
horizon  of  this  coal  is  intersected  soon  after  crossing  the 
Tennessee-Kentucky  line. 

Near  Strunks  Lane  (Silerville),  two  miles  from  the  State 
line,  it  is  mined  by  the  West  Jellico  Coal  Company  in  A 
26-37.  It  is  here  28  inches  thick  under  shale  and  over  clay 
shale.  This  is  on  the  east  side  of  the  railroad.  On  the  same 
side  of  the  railroad  and  nearer  to  Marsh  creek,  on  Daniel 
Strunk’s  place,  the  same  coal  is  opened.  This  is  in  25-26, 
and  must  be  very  near  the  place  where  Mr.  Crozier  collected 
samples  for  analysis  in  June,  1882.  It  was  described  as  coming 
from  Mr.  J.R.  Ryan’s  and  from  an  opening  where  it  measured 
up  36  inches.  The  analysis  is  as  follows: 

Sp.gr 1.275 

Moisture.  2‘08 

Volatile  combustibles 35.58 

Fixed  carbon 58.90 

Ash 3.44 

Sulphur 5.67 

Still -in  the  drainage  of  Marsh  creek,  at  A.  Z.  Creek- 
more’s  in  A 22-38  it  is  reported  30  inches  thick.  It  has  also 
been  opened  on  this  stretch  of  Upper  Marsh  creek  on  John 
Meadows’,  R.  V.  Lovett’s  and  Wm.  Hays’  land. 

Along  the  line  of  the  Cincinnati  Southern  from  Strunk’s 
Lane  to  within  one  mile  of  Pine  Knot  this  coal  was  formerly 
worked  rather  extensively.  It  seems  now  to  have  been  mined 
out  in  this  district.  At  the  abandoned  mines  of  the  Pine  Knot 
Coal  Company,  about  two  miles  south  of  Pine  Knot,  it  is  39 
inches  thick.  Within  one  mile  of  the  Station  are  abandoned 
mines  where  the  thickness  could  not  be  measured  on  account 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


57 


of  the  openings  being  fallen  in.  These  and  the  mines  of  the 
Pine  Knot  Coal  Company  are  in  A 26-39.  North  of  here  a 
rapid  rising  of  the  formations  brings  the  Corbin  Sandstone  to 
and  above  track  level. 

Jellico  Creek  Drainage. 

In  the  Drainage  of  Jellico  Creek  the  Lily  Coal  has  been 
opened  in  A 16-37  on  Rock  creek  on  Judge  Findley’s  land,  al- 
so on  Jefferson  Creekmore ’s.  It  is  here  very  close  down  npon 
the  Corbin.  The  coal  is  here  thin,  being  only  21  inches  thick. 

In  A 14-38  this  seam  is  about  30  inches  thick  as  indicated 
by  the  bloom.  In  A 17-41  and  18-41,  on  Pleasant  Run  this 
seam  is  found  not  over  ten  (feet  above  the  top  of  the  Corbin. 
This  is  on  lands  belonging  to  W.  B.  Creekmore,  Lizzie  Per- 
kins and  Tom  Meadows.  The  thickness  of  it  could  not  be  meas- 
ured, but  both  the  Blue  Grems  and  the  Main  Jellico  show  up 
in  the  hill  section,  which  is  the  northern  front  of  Jellico  Moun- 
tain. The  intervals  between  these  four  coals  in  ascending 
order  are  160,  80  and  60  feet  respectively. 

Prof.  Crandall,  in  his  report  on  Whitley  county  and  part 
of  Pulaski,  refers  to  a coal  near  Steeley’s  store  on  M. 
E.  White’s  place  that  must  be’  in  the  vicinity  of  these  last 
described.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  opening 
on  this  coal  at  Albert  Mahan’s  in  the  bed  of  Paint  Branch  in 
A 18-42.  It  was  by  Prof.  Crandall  erroneously  estimated  as 
being  here  100  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Conglomerate  Series. 

In  the  Clear  Fork  Drainage  of  the  Cumberland  river  the 
Lily  coal,  never  very  high  above  drainage,  can  be  traced  all 
the  way  up  from  Williamsburg  to  a little  above  Saxton. 

In  A 8-39  this  is  the  coal  reported  five  feet  thick  which 
is  lifted  from  the  bed  of  the  stream  by  Drew  Beans,  Wm. 
Rider  and  others.  On  Jackson  fork  of  Clear  fork  the  horizon 
of  this  coal  extends  up  as  far  as  A 10-39,  where  it  was  formerly 


58 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


opened  on 'Grit.  Moses  land  not  over  10  feet  above  branch 
level.  The  top  of  the  Corbin  is  here  about  at  branch  level. 

Near  Williamsburg,  on  Benjamin  Bennett’s  place  in  A 9 
and  10-43,  this  is  the  lowest  coal  worked.  The  openings  are 
by  the  roadside  and  are  within  ten  feet  oif  the  top  of  the 
Corbin.  The  same  coal  is  mined  across  Clear  Fork  from  here. 
Across  the  river  from  Williamsburg  this  coal  has  been  mined 
in  A 9-45,  within  ten  feet  of  the  top  of  the  Corbin,  here  form- 
ing the  River  Cliff . It  is  here  30  inches  thick.  From  this 
point  it  can  be  readily  traced  across  the  road  to  the  north 
into  the  drainage  of  Watts  creek  where  it  has  been  opened 
in  A 9-46  on  land  of  Ben  Moore.  It  is  here  24-29  inches  thick. 
In  the  same  Minute  Quadrangle,  back  of  school  house  by 
side  of  road  to  Rockliold  it  was  formerly  opened,  but  the 
opening  has  now  fallen  in.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek 
from  here,  in  A 9-51,  this  seam  was  formerly  opened  and  mined 
commercially.  The  tip-house  is  still  in  good  repair  at  the 
end  of  the  tramway  built  from  the  mine  to  the  railroad. 

No  other  openings  were  found  on  this  seam  near  the  line 
of  the  railroad  until  Rockliold  is  reached.  Here  in  A 8-51, 
on  a small  tributary  of  Carr  Fork  of  Watts  creek  on  land  be- 
longing to  J.  B.  Hamlin,  is  a semi-cannel  coal  24  inches  thick 
which  is  at  the  horizon  of  this  Lily  coal. 

North  oT  here  along  the  line  of  the  railroad,  the  horizon 
of  this  coal  is  below  drainage  until  Corbin  is  reached.  The 
coal  itself,  however,  does  not  show  at  Corbin.  West  of  the 
railroad  as  far  as  the  western  margin  of  the  Breathitt  out- 
crop, there  are  traces  of  this  coal,  but  no  important  openings 
seem  to  have  been  made  upon  it. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


59 


The  Bacon  Creek,  Lower  Blue  Gem,  or  No.  5 Seam. 

This  seam,  while  very  persistent,  is  generally  thin,  being 
workable,  in  the  absence  of  other  openings  in  the  same  hill  on 
other  coals,  only  in  the  district  on  Bacon  creek  near  Corbin. 

It  ranges  from  120  to  170  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Cor- 
bin. In  the  Jellico  Mountain  region  it  ranges  in  thickness 
from  one  foot  to  18  inches. 

In  A 18-41  and  40  this  seam  shows  up  in  same  section 
with  all  the  coals  from  the  Lily  to  the  Jellico  inclusive.  It  is 
here  about  160  feet  above  the  Lily  coal. 

In  the  Clear  Fork  region  where  this  coal  has  sometimes 
been  opened  and  worked  in  connection  with  the  Main  Jellico 
Seam,  it  is  known  as  the  Lower  Blue  G-em.  No  analysis  seems 
ever  to  have  been  recorded  of  it,  but  it  is  of  excellent  quality. 

At  the  Burk  Hollow  Coal  Company’s  Mines  in  A 7-36, 
its  bloom  is  seen  in  the  section  60  feet  below  the  “Upper  Blue 
Gem”  and  170  feet  below  the  Main  Jellico. 

In  A 10-39,  in  the  Jackson  Fork  region,  the  bloom  of  it  is 
60  feet  below  the  Upper  Blue  Gem,  and  140  feet  above  Jack- 
son  Fork  which  lias  Corbin  in  its  creek  bed. 

In  A 8-41,  in  the  hill  west  of  Pleasant  View,  this  seam 
is  90  feet  above  the  Louisville  & Nashville  station  and  80  feet 
below  the  Upper  Blue  Gem. 

In  the  same  Minute  Quadrangle,  in  the  section  seen  go- 
ing up  to  the  Main  Jellico  Seam,  it  is  190  feet  above  the  level 
of  Clear  creek  and  70  feet  below  the  Upper  Blue  Gem. 

In  A 9-42,  at  the  Fair  Day  Coal  Company’s  Mine,  it  is 
17  to  18  inches  thick  and  55  feet  below  the  Upper  Blue  Gem. 

In  A 10-43,  on  Benjamin  Bennet’s  place  it  is  160  feet 
above  the  Lily  and  75  feet  below  the  Upper  Blue  Gem. 

In  passing  north  from  the  Cumberland  river,  little  is  seen 

of  this  seam  until  the  head  waters  of  Watts  creek  is  reached. 

Here,  a little  above  Brummet  Station,  on  Widow  Mauney’s 
7 * 


60 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


land,  it  has  been  opened  with  a reported  thickness  of  30  inches. 
This  is  in  A 7-53. 

In  A 8-53,  on  J.  B.  Powers  place  it  is  reported  to  show  24 
inches.  In  A 7-54,  on  Charles  Setzer’s  place  it  has  been 
opened  26  inches  thick  under  shale  and  over  clay.  The  ele- 
vation here  is  about  110  (feet  above  the  railroad. 

Green  Taylor  has  an  opening  on  the  same  seam  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  railroad  from  here. 

In  A 10-53,  near  the  head  of  Carr  Fork  of  Watt’s  creek, 
on  lands  belonging  to  J.  G.  Sharp  and  Sampson  Campbell,  a 
coal  from  23  to  30  inches  is  reported  to  have  been  opened, 
which  is  either  at  this  horizon  or  the  one  next  higher. 

On  the  headwaters  of  Lynn  Camp  creek,  an  land  belonging 
to  B.  D.  Le  Force,  in  A 8-54,  this  seam  shows  25  inches.  It 
is  here  about  110  feet  above  the  Louisville  & Nashville  track 
level. 

Going  down  this  stream,  on  the  northwest  side,  openings 
have  been  made  between  here  and  Woodbine  on  land  belong- 
ing to  Frank  Mooney,  E.  Burnet  and  Hiram  Taylor. 

It  is  on  Bacon  creek,  however,  that  the  most  numerous 
openings  have  been  made,  and  is  from  here  that  the  desig- 
nation, “ Bacon  Creek,”  is  taken. 

Near  the  head  of  the  stream  the  openings  are  on  both 
sides,  but  in  the  middle  and  lower  course  the  stream  marks 
the  northern  termination  of  the  highland  or  “mountain,” 
which  is  always  formed  by  that  portion  of  the  Breathitt  which 
contains  coals  5 to  7 (of  this  report)  inclusive.  Practically 
every  farm  on  the  east  side  of  this  creek  has  had  coal  Number 
5 opened  on  it.  Most  of  these  show  abundant  plant  impres- 
sions in  the  roofing  shales.  Beginning  near  the  head  of  the 
stream  and  naming  in  order  on  the  east  side  the  owners  of 
the  farms  having  coal  openings  upon  them,  they  are  as  fol- 
lows: 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


61 


AVm.  Rogers,  J.  V.  Cheney,  T.  S.  Williams,  J.  Wells, 
Josiah  Davis  (27  inches,  abundant  plant  impressions),  Geo. 
Steel  (two  or  three  openings  showing  coal  26  to  27  inches  and 
125  feet  above  Bacon  creek),  John  Andres  (three  openings), 
Charles  Gants  and  J.  H.  Hatfield  (25  to  27  inches). 

On  the  west  side  of  the  creek,  beginning  at  the  head  and 
coming  down  the  stream  in  the  same  way,  the  farm  owners 
are  Frank  Rogers,  John  Rogers,  Wm.  Rogers,  Robert  Wells, 
Marion  Roaden,  Richard  Roaden  and  Wm.  Floyd. 

All  these  openings  are  in  A 6,  7,  8 and  9-55  and  56;  also 
in  9-56,  at  head  of  North  Prong  of  Bacon  creek,  on  Joe  Mul- 
lins’ place,  this  coal  has  been  opened  where  it  shows  up  25 
inches  thick. 

North  of  here  in  the  district  examined  this  coal  has  not 
been  identified. 

West  and  southwest  of  here  the  seam  is  found  in  the  hills 
that  are  high  enough  to  catch  this  horizon,  as  for  instance  in 
A 13-52  on  land  of  Mr.  Crit.  Roads,  where  it  has  been  opened 
21-22  inches  thick  and  about  185  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
Corbin. 

The  ‘‘Blue  Gem”  or  No.  6 Seam. — This  is  frequently  called 
the  “ Upper  Blue  Gem.”  In  the  district  examined  this  is  of 
commercial  importance  only  in  the  Clear  Fork  of  Cumberland 
River  Drainage,  and  in  this  region  only  because  it  usually  oc- 
curs in  the  same  hill  with  No.  7 or  the  Jellico  Seam,  and  can 
be  mined  in  connection  with  the  latter.  In  the  region  south 
of  the  Cumberland  river  it  generally  lias  the  advantage  of  the 
Bacon  creek,  or  Lower  Blue  Gem,  as  regards  thickness  of 
the  bed.  Its  height  above  the  Corbin  ranges  from  225 
to  240  feet.  The  interval  between  it  and  the  Main  Jellico  is 
80  to  110  feet.  Its  range  in  thickness  is  from  8 to  22  inches 
in  all  the  openings  examined. 

In  A 7-36,  in  the  mountain  northeast  from  Jellico,  it  has 
been  opened  by  the  Burk  Hollow  Coal  Company  at  a distance 


62 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


below  the  Main  Jellico  of  110  feet,  and  is  reported  20  to  30 
inches  thick. 

In  A 10-38  it  has  been  opened  at  the  Kensee  Mines  at  a 
vertical  distance  below  the  Main  Jellico  of  80  feet. 

In  A 10-39,  in  the  road  going  down  to  Jackson  Fork,  the 
bloom  oif  this  coal  may  be  seen  65  feet  above  the  Bacon  creek. 

In  A 7-39,  opposite  the  town  of  Saxton,  it  has  been 
worked  along  with  the  Main  Jellico.  It  is  reported  to  be  20 
to  30  inches  thick. 

In  A 8-41  it  has  been  opened  in  the  mountain  west  of 
Pleasant  View  21  inches  thick  and  165  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  Louisville  & Nashville  railroad.  It  is  here  75  to  80  feet 
above  the  Bacon  creek. 

In  the  same  Minute  Quadrangle,  but  a little  farther  north, 
it  has  been  opened  by  L.  Stowe  and  Roads  70  feet  above  the 
Bacon  Greek  and  85  feet  below  the  Main  Jellico.  It  is  very 
thin  here,  not  exhibiting  over  9 inches  at  the  entrance. 

In  A 9-42,  at  the  Fair  Day  Company’s  Mines,  it  is  18 
inches  thick.  The  interval  here  between  it  and  No.  5 is  55 
feet  and  between  it  and  No.  7 the  interval  is  85  feet. 

In  A 10-43,  on  Benjamin  Bennet’s  place  it  is  20  to  22 
inches  thick  and  75  feet  above  the  Bacon  Creek  Seam. 

Westward  from  Clear  Fork  it  may  be  found  in  the  whole 
Jellico  Mountain  region.  One  place  where  there  is  an  ad- 
mirable section  for  giving  its  relation  to  the  coals  above  and 
below  is  in  A 18-40  and  41,  in  the  mountain  side  eastward  from 
Pleasant  Run  Branch.  It  is  here  60  feet  below  the  Main  Jel- 
lico, 80  feet  above  the  Bacon  creek  and  240  feet  above  the  Lily. 
The  latter  is  near  creek  level. 

The  Jellico  or  No.  7 Seam. — This  coal,  which  is  call- 
ed the  4 ‘ Main  Jellico,”  is  the  most  important  mining  seam 
in  this  portion  of  the  coal  field.  Its  vertical  distance  above 
the  top  of  the  Corbin  is  about  300  feet.  It  belongs  to  that 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


63 


portion  of  the  Breathitt  which  tends  to  become  mountainous. 

It  is  confined  to  the  southeastern  portion  of  the  district 
covered  by  Map  A.  The  western  boundary  of  the  Jellico  out- 
crop may  be  roughly  traced  as  follows: 

Beginning  at  the  Tennessee  line  in  the  mountain  east 
of  Marsh  creek,  it  proceeds  thence  with  the  upper  part  of  the 
mountain  slope  on  the  east  side  of  Marsh  creek  valley  to  the 
crossing  of  the  Pine  Knot  and  Williamsburg  road  at  Holy 
Hill;  thence  with  the  same  portion  of  the  mountain  slope  on 
the  east  side  of  the  road  to  its  crossing  with  Jellico  creek; 
thence  with  the  western  face  of  the  mountain  to  where  it 
overlooks  the  Cumberland  river  in  the  prominent  headland 
just  west  of  Williamsburg  which  is  known  as  Mount  Morgan. 

North  of  the  Cumberland  it  follows  the  same  upper  slope 
of  the  mountain  on  the  east  side  of  the  Louisville  & Nashville 
Railroad  until  the  station  Rockliold  is  reached.  North  of 
here  nothing  was  seen  of  the  seam  near  the  line  of  the  railway, 
and  the  boundary  appears  to  turn  more  to  the  eastward  and 
to  enter  Clay  county. 

This  seam,  according  to  Prof.  Crandall,  ranges  in  thick- 
ness from  30  to  62  inches  and  is  usually  separated  by  a clay 
parting  into  two  benches.  A hard  layer  of  sandstone  frequent- 
ly forms  the  roof  but  sometimes  the  roof  is  shale,  and  then 
generally  marked  with  abundant  plant  impressions.  The 
coal  is  almost  uniformly  of  excellent  quality. 

Among  the  most  celebrated  of  the  mines  being  operated 
on  this  seam  in  Kentucky  near  the  Tennessee  line  are  the 
Procter  and  the  Kensee.  The  former  has  its  openings  in  A 
11-37  and  the  latter  in  10-37  and  38.  Each  exhibits  the  same 
one  inch  parting;  in  the  former  it  is  21  inches  and  in  the  lat- 
ter 30  inches  from  the  base. 

The  total  thickness  of  the  seam  is  43  inches  at  the  Proc- 
ter and  44  inches  at  the  Kensee  mines. 


64 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


The  analysis  of  the  Procter  with  that  of  the  same  seam 
on  Pigeon  creek  is  as  follows: 


Whole  face 

Pigeon  Creek 

Moisture 

2.00 

1.90 

Volatile  combustibles  . . 

33.70 

32.86 

Fixed  carbon  

61.90 

63.19 

Ash 

2.40 

2.14 

Sulphur 

.796 

.700 

The  height  of  the  seam  above  the  Clear  Fork  of  the  Cum- 
berland river  is  about  50  feet  less  at  the  Kensee  than  at  the 
Procter  Mines.  This  seam  has  been  opened  up  at  a number 
of  places  in  the  Jellico  Creek  region.  Prof.  Crandall  refers 
to  one  opening  near  R.  F.  Creekmore’s,  about  one  mile  from 
the  Tennessee  line  in  which  the  clay  parting  is  increased  to 
7 inches. 

In  A 15-37  this  seam  is  360  feet  above  Jellico  creek  and 
260  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Corbin.  The  thickness  is  63 
inches  with  a 9 inch  clay  parting  22  inches  from  the  base.  A 
bloom  of  what  is  probably  the  Lily  coal  is  seen  in  the  road  10 
feet  above  the  top  of  the  Corbin.  This  makes  the  interval  be- 
tween the  two  horizons  here  250  feet. 

The  Creekmore  coal  of  Prof.  Crandall  must  be  somewhere 
in  this  vicinity.  He  gives  the  analysis  of  it  as  follows: 


Upper 

Uower 

bench. 

bench 

Moisture . 

2.00 

1.70 

Volatile  combustibles 

31.30 

37.40 

Fixed  carbon  

62.94 

59.36 

Ash 

3.76 

1.54 

Sulphur 

901 

1.721 

Specific  Gravity  1.285. 


In  A 18-40  the  Jellico  is  opened  on  the  north  side  of  the 
mountain  overlooking  Pleasant  Run  and  opposite  Lone  or 
Peak  Mountain.  It  is  here  380  feet  above  the  stream  and  300 
feet  above  the  Lily  coal.  It  is  quite  thin  there. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


65 


In  A 18-41,  in  Peak  Mountain,  the  same  seam  has  been 
opened  on  land  belonging  to  C.  E.  Stevens. 

According  to  Prof.  Crandall,  this  is  probably  the  coal 
opened  on  land  belonging  to  M.  E.  Mahan  in  A 10-40.  He  es- 
timates it  here  to  be  250  feet  above  Wolf  creek. 

On  Possum  branch  of  Wolf  creef,  in  A 9-41,  Prof.  Crandall 
refers  to  the  Jellico  being  mined  on  land  belonging  to  James 
Cox  and  also  on  land  belonging  to  Joseph  Cox;  39  and  36 
inches  respectively  with  traces  of  a clay  seam  15  inches  from 
the  top. 

The  seam  is  280  feet  above  local  drainage  and  analyzes 
as  follows: 


Moisture 1.84 

Volatile  combustibles 83.84 

Fixed  carbon 59.96 

Ash 4.89 

Sulphur  2.18 


On  the  west  side  of  the  Clear  Fork  Valley  itself,  the  Jel- 
lico iq  opened  on  almost  continuous  abutting  property  from 
near  Jellico  to  near  Williamsburg. 

In  A 7-36,  on  the  north  face  of  the  mountain  it  is  worked 
by  the  Burk  Hollow  Coal  Company  at  a height  above  drain- 
age of  290  feet,  and  with  Nos.  5 and  6 below  respectively  110 
and  170  feet.  The  Jellico  is  about  32  inches  thick  under  sand- 
stone and  over  shale. 

At  the  mines  of  the  East  Tennessee  Coal  Company  in  A 
8-37,  the  seam  is  44  inches  thick  with  a bone  coal  parting  of 
one  inch  30  inches  from  the  base. 

The  analysis  is  as  follows: 


Moisture 

Volatile  combustibles 

Fixed  carbon 

Ash 

Sulphur  


2.00 

36.00 

60.00 
2.00 

.631 


66 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


No.  6 is  about  80  to  90  feet  below  the  Main  Jellico  here 
and  is  reported  30  to  32  inches  thick. 

A little  above  Saxton  in  about  A 7-38  the  seam  is  exten- 
sively mined  by  a company  using  electricity  for  drawing  the 
coal  from  the  mines.  It  is  here  35  to  37  inches  thick  and  300 
feet  above  drainage  here  at  the  top  of  the  Corbin. 

In  9-41,  opposite  and  below  Pleasant  View,  at  a mine  be- 
longing to  Stowe  and  Rhoads,  the  seam  is  40  to  41  inches 
thick  with  a 3 inch  parting  18  inches  from  the  base.  It  is  345 
feet  above  drainage,  and  has  had  opened  below  it,  in  the 
same  hill  slope,  Nos.  5 and  6,  distant  below  it  155  and  85  feet 
respectively.  This  is  in  about  the  same  Minute  Quadrangle 
as  the  Lawson  Opening  and  the  Bird  Opening,  45  and  40 
inches  thick  respectively.  The  coal  from  the  Bird  Opening 
analyzes  as  follows: 


Moisture  2.40 

Volatile  combustibles 34.80 

Fixed  carbon 68.80 

Ash 4.00 

Sulphur .522 


In  A 9-42  the  Fair  Day  Coal  Company  operates  on  the 
main  Jellico  and  has  made  openings  on  Nos.  5 and  6 as  well. 

The  Main  Jellico  is  36  inches  thick  with  a three  inch 
parting  12  inches  from  the  base.  The  height  above  drainage 
here,  which  is  also  the  height  above  the  Corbin,  is  250  to  300 
feet.  The  height  above  No.  6 is  85  feet  and  above  No.  5 it  is 
135  feet. 

Prof.  Crandall  speaks  of  this  coal  being  opened  on  Briar 
creek  near  the  head  in  about  A 12-43  and  gives  its  thickness 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY 


67 


as  30  inches.  The  analysis  of  the  coal  at  the  opening  on  Mr. 
M.  Richardson’s  place  and  also  on  the  Jones  and  Greer  places 
is  as  follows: 


Richardson’s 

Jones’ 

Greer’s 

Moisture  ... 

1.94 

38.92 

66.84 

2.36 

.764 

1.90 

36.10 

69.60 

2.60 

.997 

1.90 

37.40 

68.60 

2.10 

.928 

Volatile  combustibles  

Fixed  carbon  

Ash 

Sulphur 

In  Jones’  Peak  on  the  Jellico  creek  side  the  total  thick- 
ness of  the  seam  including  three  partings  is  49^  inches.  The 
lower  parting  is  H inches,  7-J  inches  from  the  base,  and  the 
upper  is  5 inches,  12  inches  from  the  base. 

The  analysis  is  as  follows: 


Moisture 1.76 

Volatile  combustibles 37.86 

Fixed  carbon  63.98 

Ash  6.40 

Sulphur .607 


In  A 11-40,  west  of  Williamsburg,  the  seam  is  opened  in 
the  prominent  headland  known  as  Mount  Morgan.  It  is  here, 
as  measured  in  an  old  entry,  29  inches  thick  under  a sandstone 
roof  and  275  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Corbin. 

The  analysis  of  the  coal  is  as  follows: 


Moisture 2.00 

Volatile  combustibles 34.00 

Fixed  carbon 68.44 

Ash 4.80 

Sulphur 1.428 


“East  of  Clear  Fork  the  Jellico  coal  has  been  traced  to 
the  Pine  Mountain,  where  it  terminates  at  the  fault  line  in  the 
face  of  the  mountain.” — Crandall. 


68 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


In  the  neighborhood  of  Pleasant  View  Prof.  Crandall 
estimates  the  height  of  the  seam  above  Clear  Fork 
as  340  feet,  and  the  thickness  at  from  37  to  41  inches.  The 
most  prominent  mine  in  the  vicinity  of  this  village  is  the 
Mt.  Nash  in  A 7-40. 

In  A 5-41  the  Terril  Siler  Coal  on  Tackett’s  creek  is  41 
inches  thick  and  the  analysis  is  as  follows: 

Moisture 2.10 

Volatile  combustibles  36.00 

Fixed  carbon 57.70 

Ash 3.30 

Sulphur.  ...  .708 

Prof.  Crandall  was  of  the  opinion  when  he  published  his 
report  on  Whitley  county  that  a coal  known  as  the  “Birdseye 
Cannel”  was  a seam  next  lower  in  the  series  than  the  Jellico, 
in  other  words  that  it  was  No.  6,  but  Prof.  Norwood, 
who  has  made  a more  recent  examination  of  the  region  in  ques- 
tion, that  east  of  Clear  Fork,  has  determined  that  the  ‘ 6 Birds- 
eye” character  is  only  a phase  of  the  Jellico  in  this  area.*  As- 
suming the  latter  view  to  be  correct,  and  locating  the  leading 
openings,  they  are  with  their  character  and  thickness  as 
follows: 

Cane  (or  Caney)  Creek  Drainage. — A 4-39,  plain  bitumin- 
ous phase,  24-42  inches,  birdseye  cannel  phase  in  another 
mine,  24  inches. 

Other  openings  have  been  made  on  this  seam  at  frequent 
intervals  all  the  way  to  the  head  of  the  creek. 

On  Buck  Creek  the  coal  shows  30  inches  in  A 6-40. 

On  Little  Patterson  Creek  in  4 and  5-40,  35  to  41  inches. 


*This  fact  is  now  generally  recognized  by  those  familiar  with  the  Jellico 
coal,  especially  since  entries  have  been  driven  direct  from  the  seam  where  it 
shows  the  common  bituminous  phase  into  openings  where  the  “birdseye  cannel” 
phase  is  predominant. — C.  J.  N. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


69 


In  5-41,  52  inches;  in  5-4,  in  the  mountain  between  Little 
and  Big  Patterson  creeks,  36  inches. 

Prof.  Crandall  mentions  a coal — the  Jones  coal — having 
some  resemblance  to  the  Jellico,  as  being  100  feet  above  the 
head  of  Little  Patterson  creek.  He  gives  its  thickness  as  36 
inches  with  a part  of  it  splint,  and  the  analysis  of  it  as  follows: 


Moisture 2.14 

Volatile  combustibles 86.06 

Fixed  carbon 69.20 

Ash 2.60 

Sulphur .755 


Main  Patterson  Creek. 

On  Big  Patterson  Creek  and  Tributaries  the  seam  has 
been  extensively  opened. 

On  Rose  Fork  in  A 2-40,  28  inches,  in  1-40,  36  inches. 

Also  with  the  birdseve  cannel  phase  in  2-40,  28  inches ; 
and  in  3-40,  30  inches. 

Near  head  of  Main  or  Big  Patterson  creek,  in  3-39,  24  to 
27  inches.  On  Bennet’s  Fork,  near  head  in  1-41,  also  in  2-40 
and  2-41,  both  ordinary  bituminous  and  birdseye.  In  3-39, 
birdseye  cannel  and  bituminous,  31  inches.  On  a tributary  of 
Big  Patterson  creek  in  3-40,  bituminous  30  inches  and  birds- 
eye 30  inches,  making  a seam  53  inches  thick. 


Big  Cane  Creek. 

On  Big  Cane  or  Caney  Creek  and  its  tributaries  the  seam 
has  been  opened  on  a large  scale. 

Particularly  in  1-39,  on  Lick  Fork  of  Cane  creek,  the 
birdseye  phase  is  here  exhibited  and  also  in  A 2-38  and  39. 

It  is  also  opened  on  Little  Cane  creek  in  A 4-38  and  39. 
Proif.  Crandall  speaks  of  it  as  being  36  inches  thick  on 
Little  Cane  creek. 


70 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


The  seam  lias  been  opened  on  Little  Mud  creek,  in  the 
ridge  between  it  and  Big  Cane,  and  on  the  west  side  in  the 
slope  of  Pine  Mountain  as  far  as- the  fault  line. 

Prof.  Crandall  gives  the  thickness  in  the  ridge  between 
Mud  and  Cane  creeks  as  37  inches  without  parting,  and  refers 
to  its  being  opened  at  Wymer  Siler’s  in  the  face  of  the  Pine 
Mountain,  275  feet  above  Mud  creek.  The  thickness  of  the 
coal  here  is  40  inches  and  the  analysis  is  as  follows: 


Moisture 2.51 

Volatile  combustibles 33.12 

Fixed  carbon. 62.70 

Ash 1.67 

Sulphur .60 


North  of  the  Cumberland  river  the  Jellico  Seam  may  be 
traced  without  a break  in  the  region  east  of  the  Louisville 
& Nashville  Railroad  as  far  as  Rockhold. 

In  the  drainage  of  Brown  creek  the  seam  has  been  opened 
exhibiting  all  of  its  characteristics,  and  particularly  the  clay 
parting.  A great  deal  of  the  land  here  belongs  to  the  King 
Mountain  Coal  Company.  On  this  property  the  coal  is  re- 
ported from  44  to  46  inches  thick. 

Beginning  at  Timothy  Perkins’  on  the  north  side  of  the 
creek,  about  one  mile  from  the  mouth,  openings  have  been 
made  on  the  lands  of  Wm.  Beaver  and  Mr.  McKeon.  On  the 
south  side  of  the  creek,  opposite  to  Mr.  Perkins,  Hon.  J.  A. 
Sullivan  owns  most  of  the  mountain  coal  land,  1,800  acres. 

On  the  Perkins  land  in  A 7-47,  an  opening  driven  through 
from  the  Watts  creek  side  at  Mahan  Station  shows  50  to  51 
inches  with  a 3 inch  parting  21  inches  from  the  base.  The 
coal  is  here  over  a 9 inch  sandstone  and  that  over  a clay. 

It  is  the  Jellico  seam  that  the  Watts  Creek  Jellico  Coal 
Company  is  working  at  Mahan  Station  in  A 8-48.  The  seam 
is  here  300  feet  above  the  Station  and  270  feet  above  the  top 
of  the  Corbin.  It  is  55  inches  thick  with  a 6 inch  clay  parting 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


71 


22  inches  from  the  base.  This  is  the  parting  that  thins  down 
to  3 inches  in  passing  through  the  mountain  to  the  Perkins 
opening  referred  to  above. 

The  No.  6 Seam  is  60  feet  below  No.  7 here  and  21  inches 
thick.  Prof.  Crandall  gives  the  “ Mahan  Station  Coal”  as 
40  inches  thick  and  its  analysis  as  follows: 


Moisture 4.60 

Volatile  combustibles 32.80 

Fixed  carbon 59.00 

Ash 3.60 

Sulphur .742 


At  the  station  next  north  of  here,  in  A 7-48  and  49,  the 
seam  is  47  to  52  inches  thick  with  a 4 to  14  inch  parting  about 
the  middle.  The  roof  is  generally  sandstone.  The  seam  is 
about  300  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Corbin  here  about  the 
level  of  Watts  creek. 

On  Tyes  Fork  of  Watts  creek  several  openings  have  been 
made  on  this  seam,  and  it  is  mined  by  the  Imperial  Jellico 
Coal  Company  in  A 6-50,  a spur  of  railroad  being  run  out  to 
it  from  Eockhold  Station.  The  seam  is  here  42  inches  thick, 
with  4 inches  of  it  impure  and  slaty.  The  roof  is  very  fossil- 
iferous,  exhibiting  mainly  catamite  and  lepidodendron  leaf 
impressions. 

In  A 4-51,  on  land  of  Mr.  Ed  King,  the  seam  is  42  inches 
thick  under  this  same  cal  ami te  shale. 

In  the  mountain  on  the  west  side  of  the  railroad,  south- 
west from  Eockhold  Station,  the  seam  has  been  opened  on 
Mr.  Ben  Sharp’s  land,  where  it  is  reported  22  inches  thick. 
This  is  in  A 8-50. 

Prof.  Crandall  gives  the  thickness  of  the  seam  on  Tyes 
Fork,  two  and  one  half  miles  from  Eockhold  Station  (evident- 
ly at  the  Imperial  Jellico  Company’s  mines),  as  42  inches  with 


72 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


a “slate”  parting  of  one  inch,  18  inches  from  the  base,  and 
the  analysis  as  follows: 


Moisture 1.80 

Volatile  combustibles 37.00 

Fixed  carbon 57.80 

Ash 3.40 

Sulphur .961 


LAUREL  COUNTY. 


The  only  coal  of  the  Breathitt  formation  opened  in 
Laurel  county  is  the  Lily  or  the  No.  4 of  this  report. 

On  account  of  its  importance  in  this  county  from  the 
commercial  point  of  view  it  has  long  been  known  as  the 
“Laurel  Coal.”  In  passing  north  into  the  county  along  the 
line  of  the  Louisville  & Nashville  Railroad,  it  is  first  seen  in 
the  railroad  cut  south  of  Lily.  It  is  here  only  15  inches  thick. 

At  Lily,  northeast  of  the  station  in  A 4 and  3-2,  this  seam 
has  been  extensively  mined.  It  is  here  in  the  valley  of  Big 
Laurel  river  and  close  to  water  level,  being  as  measured  at 
one  place  only  16  ifeet  above  it.  It  ranges  in  thickness  from 
36  to  40  inches.  It  cannot  be  over  20  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
Corbin  here.  The  company  operating  here  is  the  Lily  Jellico 
Coal  Co. 

An  analysis  of  the  coal,  which  is  probably  typical,  is  as 
follows: 


Moisture 1.80 

Volatile  combustibles 37.60 

Fixed  carbon 58.10 

Ash 2.90 

Sulphur 1.085 


A semi-cannel  coal  listed  in  Chemical  Analysis,  Volume 
A,  Part  3,  of  the  Survey,  as  from  within  a distance  of  one  and 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


73 


one-half  miles  of  Lily,  is  probably  from  the  same  horizon.  Its 
analysis  is  there  given  as  follows: 


Moisture 

Volatile  combustibles. 

Fixed  carbon  

Ash 

Sulphur 


1.20 

38.00 

46.60 

14.20 

.797 


Along  the  line  of  the  Louisville  & Nashville  Railroad 
north  of  Lily  few  openings  have  been  made  on  this  seam  until 
vicinity  of  London  is  reached.  At  latter  place  it  is  below 
drainage  and  has  to  be  reached  by  shafting.  A shaft  was 
sunk  to  the  level  of  this  coal  by  the  side  of  the  railroad  in  the 
limits  of  the  town  itself  in  B 6-8. 

It  is  near  the  stations  of  Pittsburg,  East  Bernstadt  and 
Altamont,  however,  that  most  of  the  mining  in  Laurel  county 
is  carried  on. 

At  Pittsburg  (Old  Pitman  Station)  this  seam  has  been 
worked  by  different  companies  for  a great  many  years. 

As  measured  from  an  old  opening  just  across  the  branch 
west  of  the  Pitman  Hotel,  the  distance  of  the  seam  above  the 
top  of  the  Corbin  is  about  20  feet.  This  is  in  B 8-10. 

Originally  the  openings  on  the  seam  were  mainly  on  the 
west  side  of  the  railroad,  but  now  most  of  the  mining  is  car- 
ried on  east  of  the  railroad. 

Three  analyses  of  the  coal  made  for  the  Survey  are 

as  follows: 


Pitman  Coal  Co. 
Seam  36*4  inches 
thick 

L,aurel  Coal  Co. 
Exclusive  of  upper 
2 inches 

Pitman  Coal  Co. 
Collected  for 
coking  test 

Moisture 

2.82 

2 72 

2.56 

Volatile  combustibles  . . . 

36  30 

35  32 

34.56 

Fixed  carbon 

69  10 

58.60 

59.58 

Ash 

2.80 

3.36 

3 30 

Sulfur  

.660 

.679 

.895 

74 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


West  of  the  railroad  indications  of  old  openings  are  seen 
by  the  side  of  the  London-Bernstadt  Colony  road  in  B 9-9  and 
10-9,  and  nearer  Pittsburg  in  8-10  and  7-10.  All  of  these  are 
very  close  to  the  top  of  the  Corbin. 

Near  the  station  East  Bernstadt,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
railroad,  old  openings  are  in  B 8-12,  and  a branch  track  has 
been  rnn  out  to  the  openings  on  the  east  side  of  the  railroad 
in  B 6-12  on  Little  Raccoon  creek.  These  are  entrances  to  the 
mines  of  the  Phenix-Jellico  Coal  Company.  The  coal  shows 
37  inches  thick  near  the  entrance  and  is  reported  49  inches 
thick  further  back  in  the  entries,  with  no  “blackjack.”  In 
quite  a good  deal  of  the  coal  territory  in  this  vicinity  the  latter 
thickens  up  so  much  at  the  expense  of  the  good  coal  as  to 
render  mining  of  the  coal  a very  discouraging  proposition. 

An  analysis  was  made  of  the  East  Bernstadt  coal  from 
samples  collected  in  1882  by  John  R.  Procter,  and  reported  to 
have  come  from  near  the  head  of  Raccoon  creek  (whether  Lit- 
tle or  Big  is  not  stated  but  from  within  one  mile  of  the  Sta- 
tion). This  analysis  is  as  follows: 

Specific  Gravity 1.245 

Moisture 3.30 

Volatile  combustibles 34.44 

Fixed  carbon  60.96 

Ash  1.30 

Sulphur 10.55 

Other  openings  in  the  vicinity,  though  now  fallen  in,  are 
those  on  Big  Raccoon  creek  in  B 5-12  and  due  north  of  this 
on  Little  Raccoon  creek  in  the  same  Minute  Quadrangle. 

Not  far  from  Atlanta  P.  O.,  in  B 4-15,  on  Widow  Swan’s 
land,  the  Lily  seam  is  18  to  20  inches  thick  with  a parting  be- 
tween it  and  a 4 inch  seam  above. 

In  the  Upper  Hazel  Patch  Creek  Drainage  this  seam  has 
been  opened  years  ago  in  B 8-17. 

In  the  Big  Raccoon  Creek  Drainage  the  seam  once  had  an 
opening  made  on  it  in  B 2-13. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


75 


ROCKCASTLE  COUNTY. 


There  is  only  one  little  patch  of  Breathitt  Formation  in 
Rockcastle  county.  This  is  in  B 11  and  12-22.  The  Lily  coal 
has  not  been  found  in  it. 


JACKSON  COUNTY. 


The  Lily  coal  is  not  important  in  this  county. 

In  the  drainage  of  Pond  creek,  not  far  from  Settle  store, 
in  about  B 58-20,  is  the  bloom  of  a cannel  coal  which  belongs 
at  about  this  horizon. 

In  B 55-23,  near  Moore’s  Mill,  headwaters  of  Laurel  Fork 
of  Rockcastle  river,  a coal  lias  been  lifted  from  the  bed  of 
the  stream  on  land  belonging  to  H.  Vaughn,  which  seems  un- 
doubtedly to  be  the  Lily  Coal.  Also  on  land  belonging  to 
Neal  Moore  in  B 56-23  is  a 24  inch  seam  which  has  about  the 
same  elevation  above  tide  as  the  Vaughn  Coal,  but  is  rather 
high  above  the  top  of  the  conglomerate  sandstone,  here  sup- 
posed to  be  the  Corbin.  It  is  90  feet  above  this  sandstone. 

In  the  Sturgeon  Creek  Drainage  the  Lily  Coal  can  be 
identified  as  coming  pretty  constantly  within  40  feet  of  the 
top  of  the  Corbin.  In  B 52-25,  in  a hollow  on  the  west  side  of 
the  creek,  on  land  belonging  to  McLean  Gibson  it  is  reported 
to  be  34  inches  thick.  Another  opening  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  hollow  was  measured  by  aneroid  and  found  to  be  40 
feet  above  the  top  of  the  Corbin. 


76 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


In  B 53-26,  in  the  valley  of  Grassy  creek  on  land  of  Wm. 
Bowles,  is  a cannel  seam  II  inches  thick,  which  is  at  the  Lily 
Cpal  horizon.  Also  on  land  of  W.  A.  Whicker  there  is  an 
opening  on  what  is  probably  the  same  seam. 

Also  in  B 52-26,  just  below  the  month  of  the  creek,  there 
is  an  18  inch  seam  80  feet  above  Sturgeon  creek  and  above  a 
massive  sandstone  (Corbin?),  which  seems  to  be  the  same 
coal. 

In  B 52-27,  on  Travis  creek  there  is  a thin  coal  exposed  in 
the  bed  of  the  creek  on  land  of  Bud  Hughes,  that  comes  above 
a massive  sandstone.  This  coal  is  almost  certainly  the  Lily. 

The  only  signs  of  a coal  seen  in  Jackson  county  higher 
than  the  Lily  was  in  55-19  on  the  divide  going  over  from 
head  of  Little  Sexton  to  head  of  Pond  Fork  of  Rockcastle 
river. 

There  are  several  openings  here,  one  on  land  of  James 
Robinson  perliajDs  a little  over  the  line  in  Clay  county,  and 
the  other  on  land  belonging  to  J.  W.  Mullins.  These  openings 
are  now  fallen  in,  but  they  seem  to  be  on  the  same  seam.  The 
former  is  reported  to  be  36  inches  with  the  upper  19  inches 
cannel  and  the  latter  46  inches  with  36  inches  of  it  cannel  or 
cannel  shale  at  top.  This  coal  is  probably  best  correlated 
with  the  Jellico. 

OWSLEY  COUNTY. 


The  topmost  member  of  the  Lee  Conglomerate  Series, 
probably  the  Corbin,  is  exposed  along  the  head  waters  of  Big 
Sturgeon,  Little  Sturgeon  and  Buck  creeks,  as  well  as  along 
the  South  Fork  of  the  Kentucky  river  up  to  and  beyond  the 
Owsley-Clay  county  line. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


77 


The  only  place  where  any  coal-bearing  strata  of  the  Lee 
might  be  exposed  is  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  county 
along  Big  Sturgeon  in  the  vicinity  of  the  mouth  of  Wild  Dog 
creek.  It  is  possible  that  there  may  he  here  a thin  repre- 
sentative of  the  Beatty ville  (Beaver  creek)  Seam.  Practically 
all  of  the  coal  bearing  strata  of  Owsley  county,  however,  is 
Breathitt. 

The  Lily  Coal.  — This  has  not  been  certainly  identified  in 
the  southwestern  portion  of  the  county.  A coal  opened  at 
Harve  Price’s  in  46-28  may  be  this  seam.  It  is  reported  to  be 
53  inches  thick.  In  the  northern  portion  of  the  county  and  west 
of  the  South  Fork,  a thin  coal  has  been  opened  near  the  head 
of  Duck  Fork  in  44  and  45-31.  Beginning  with  Andrew 
Combs’  in  44-31  and  coming  down  the  creek,  we  have  in  order 
the  openings  on  Sheridan  Farley’s,  Add.  Farley’s,  James 
Combs’  (28-29  inches),  then  in  the  same  Minute  Quadrangle 
one  showing  24  inches,  then  Arther  Barret ’s  reported  48 
inches,  then  in  bed  of  creek  at  Pebworth  one  reported  24 
inches,  then  on  W.  B.  Bobinson’s  and  finally  on  Squire 
P.  Howell’s. 

The  Jellico  Seam. — This  is  probably  the  highest  coal 
found  in  that  portion  of  the  county  west  of  the  South  Fork  of 
the  Kentucky  river.  As  belonging  to  it  we  have  identified  cer- 
tain openings  made  on  the  coal  found  in  the  dividing  ridge 
between  the  waters  of  Sexton  and  Little  Sturgeon  creeks. 

On  Robert  Wood’s  place  in  49-22  this  seam  shows  a thick- 
ness of  36  to  37  inches  with  abundant  plant  impressions  in 
the  roofing  shales. 

On  James  Pearson’s  place  in  49-23  the  same  seam  shows 
up  36  inches  thick. 

On  John  Wilson’s  place  in  same  Minute  Quadrangle  is 
a seam  reported  to  be  22  inches  thick,  which  may  be  the  same 
as  the  Jellico,  hut  the  aneroid  makes  it  75  feet  lower. 


78 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


On  land  belonging  to  Judge  Brewer  in  47-23  is  an  opening 
showing  40  inches  with  an  1.8  inch  parting  12  inches  from  the 
base,  that  by  aneroid  is  about  200  feet  lower  than  the  Pearson 
opening,  but  Judge  Brewer  thinks  they  are  the  same  seam 
and  that  they  level  up  about  the  same. 

There  are  some  openings  on  Buck  creek,  but  they  were 
not  examined,  and  no  opinion  can  be  advanced  as  to  the  seam 
they  are  on. 

In  40-29,  on  Gabbard  branch  near  Booneville,  is  an  open- 
ing showing  28  inches  of  coal,  with  a cannel  seam  about  30  feet 
above  it  which  is  reported  to  be  24  inches  thick. 

The  probable  horizons  of  these  coals  were  not  determined. 

In  the  northeastern  portion  of  the  county,  in  the  ridge 
between  Buffalo  creek  and  the  heads  of  Pawpaw,  Long  Shoal, 
and  Lineman  creeks  the  crest  of  which  forms  the  Owsley-Lee 
boundary,  is  a coal  which  is  a considerable  distance  up  in  the 
Breathitt,  probably  about  230  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
Lee,  and  hence  somewhere  near  the  horizon  of  the  Jellico. 
One  of  the  openings  on  this  coal  is  on  Nick  Moore’s  land  in 
about  38-31.  It  is  now  fallen  in  but  the  coal  in  it  is  above  27 
inches  thick. 


LEE  COUNTY. 


The  Lily  Coal. — This  seam  is  opened  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  icounty  in  C 43-34.  It  is  between  24  and  30  inches  thick 
and  is  within  10  feet  of  the  top  of  a conglomerate-like  sand- 
stone. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  county  the  same  coal  is  opened 
about  Zachariah  P.  O.  at  the  head  of  one  prong  of  Walker’s 
creek  and  Brushy  fork  of  Big  Sinking  creek.  Most  of  these 
openings  are  in  C 42-43  and  are  within  20  to  50  feet  of  the  top 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


79 


of  the  conglomerate  sandstone.  The  maximum  thickness  of 
the  coal  is  about  36  inches. 

In  that  portion  of  Lee  county  lying  between  the  4 4 Two 
Forks”  of  the  Kentucky  river  (the  North  and  Middle)  only 
thin  coals  are  known  to  occur.  What  seems  to  be  the  Lily 
coal  has  been  opened  on  top  of  a sandstone  cliff  (equals  Cor- 
bin?) in  C 31-37  on  land  belonging  to  Sam  Jett.  It  is  reported 
36  inches  thick.  The  seam  is  said  to  be  opened  on  Mr.  Sam 
Gabbard’s  land  in  about  C 33-38. 

In  that  portion  of  the  county  south  of  the  Middle  Fork 
and  east  of  the  South  Fork  of  the  Kentucky  river,  what  is 
probably  the  Lily  coal  has  been  opened  in  C 41-34  on  land 
belonging  to  Mr.  W.  J.  Brandenberg  on  Blain  creek.  It  is 
here  32  inches  thick  and  a little  above  the  top  of  a massive 
sandstone  cliff  over  which  the  stream  falls  about  ten  feet. 

The  Jellico  Coal. — The  Jellico  Seam  is  probably  repre- 
sented in  the  same  southeastern  portion  of  the  county  in  a coal 
that  has  been  opened  a number  of  places  near  the  top  of  the 
ridges. 

This  is  the  same  coal  that  was  referred  to  as  occurring  in 
the  northeastern  portion  of  Owsley  county.  It  will  be  found 
ranging  from  230  to  300  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Lee  Forma- 
tion as  indicated  by  the  presence  of  a rather  massive  sand 
stone. 

In  C 40-32  near  the  head  of  Pawpaw  creek  the  Widow 
Brandenberg  has  an  opening  on  this  coal  which  is  about  36 
inches  thick  and  300  feet  above  the  top  of  a massive  sand 
stone  (Corbin?) 

In  C 37-33  near  head  of  a tributary  of  Lineman  creek 
the  Crawford  heirs  have  an  opening  which  is  about  300  feet 
above  the  top  of  a rather  massive  sandstone  which  looks  much 
like  it  might  be  the  Corbin.  The  seam  is  42-49  inches  thick 
with  a 1-3  inch  clay  parting,  4 inches  from  the  top. 


80 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


What  is  probably  the  bloom  of  this  coal  may  also  be  seen 
in  C 38-34  near  top  of  divide  between  Long  Shoal  creek  and 
head  of  Coal  creek. 

Further  up  Lineman  creek,  in  C 36-33  on  land  belonging 
to  Jack  Napier  this  same  coal  is  opened  where  it  shows  60  to 
65  inches  with  a 3-5  inch  parting  5 inches  from  the  top.  The 
roof  is  micaceous  sandstone.  The  height  above  the  bed  of 
Lineman  creek  is  about  325  feet. 

At  the  head  of  the  right  hand  fork  of  the  creek  on  land 
belonging  to  Elijah  Gibson  is  an  opening  reported  to  show 
a thickness  of  36  inches. 

In  C 37-31  at  the  head  of  the  main  prong  of  Lineman 
creek  on  Al.  Wilson’s  land  the  seam  averages  in  thickness  41 
inches.  The  coal  is  worked  here  for  the  K.  P.  Narrow  Gauge 
Railroad,  which  runs  out  from  the  Lexington  & Eastern  Rail- 
road in  the  vicinity  of  Tallega  and  passing  up  Lineman  creek 
crosses  the  divide  over  on  to  Meadow  creek.  The  openings  on 
this  seam  are  located  just  to  the  west  of  the  road  in  the  gap. 
The  elevation  of  the  openings  are  about  1,115  A.  T. 

About  100  feet  above  this  the  presence  of  another  seam 
is  reported  which  is  24  inches  thick. 


WOLFE  COUNTY. 


Lily  Coal. — This  seam  has  been  opened  and  is  now  worked 
along  with  another  one  about  130  feet  above  it  on  the  different 
Devil  creeks  that  empty  into  the  North  Fork  of  the  Kentucky 
river  from  the  north.  In  C 36-40  along  side  the  road  on  the 
ridge  between  Lower  and  Upper  Devil  creeks  this  first  coal 
above  the  Conglomerate  was  formerly  worked  by  stripping. 
It  is  about  920  A.  T.  and  within  20  feet  of  the  top  of  the  Con- 
glomerate. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


81 


In  C 35-42  down  from  the  top  of  the  ridge  at  an  elevation 
of  935  this  coal  has  been  opened  on  land  belonging  to  Ned. 
Drake  where  it  is  44  inches  thick  with  a 6 inch  clay  parting 
25  inches  from  the  base.  It  is  a hard  glossy  coal.  The  top 
of  the  Conglomerate  is  about  ten  feet  below. 

In  C 35-42  still  lower  down  from  the  top  of  the  ridge 
there  is  an  opening  on  this  coal  which  belongs  to  Joe  Bryant. 
The  seam  shows  50  inches  with  a 5 inch  clay  parting  27  inches 
from  the  base  and  a “brashy”  coal  parting  2 inches  thick  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  seam.  This  leaves  43  inches  clear  coal. 
The  elevation  A.  T.  is  about  895. 

In  C 34-42  near  base  of  ridge  between  Left  Fork  and  Bear 
Pen  Fork  of  Upper  Devil  creek,  at  elevation  of  about  920, 
this  coal  has  been  opened  by  Greeley  Cabell  where  it  shows 
24  inches  with  a thin  clay  parting  about  the  middle  of  the 
seam. 

In  same  Minute  Quadrangle,  on  Henry  Alexander’s  place 
the  seam  is  61  inches  thick  with  a 16  inch  clay  parting  29 
inches  from  the  base,  then  three  inches  brashy  coal,  on  top  of 
the  parting,  then  3 inches  brashy  coal,  then  3 inches  coal,  then 
3 inches  brashy  coal,  then  7 inches  impure  coal.  It  is  here  just 
on  top  of  the  main  Conglomerate  Sandstone  and  at  an  elevation 
of  about  850  A.  T. 

In  C 33-42  at  elevation  of  850  A.  T.  and  100  feet  above 
Main  fork  of  Upper  Devil  creek,  Mr.  G.  II.  Perry  has  opened 

The  equivalency  of  the  next  workable  coal  in  the  series 
is  uncertain.  It  does  not  at  present  seem  possible  to  correlate 
it  with  any  of  the  coals  above  the  Lily  coal  south  of  the  Ken- 
tucky river  and  especially  with  any  of  those  in  the  Cumber- 
land River  Region.  In  this  county  the  area  in  which  it  is 
workable  is  the  same  as  for  the  Lily  coal.  Its  average  height 
above  the  Lily  is  130  feet. 


82 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


In  coming  north  on  the  road  along  the  ridge  between 
Lower  Devil  creek  and  Left  Fork  of  Upper  Devil  creek  this 
coal  first  shows  as  a thin  stain  in  C 35-43.  It  is  here  105  feet 
above  the  top  of  the  Conglomerate. 

In  the  ridge  between  Left  Fork  and  Bear  Pen  Fork  nu- 
merous openings  have  been  made  on  this  seam.  Coming  south 
from  Campton  the  first  one  is  in  C 34-43,  the  Elkin’s  Coal 
Opening.  It  is  here  42  inches  thick  with  a 5 inch  parting  24 
inches  from  the  base. 

Next,  in  the  same  Minute  Quadrangle  is  the  Horton  Open- 
ing, showing  43  inches  with  a 5 inch  parting  23  inches  from 
the  base. 

There  are  other  openings  in  this  same  Minute  Quad- 
rangle, mostly  now  fallen  in.  All  are  within  50  feet  of  the 
top  of  the  ridge.  One  of  these,  the  W.  E.  White  opening,  is 
about  120  feet  above  the  Conglomerate. 

In  C 34-42  is  the  bloom  of  this  same  coal  135  feet  above 
the  top  of  the  Conglomerate. 

In  the  ridge  between  Bear  Pen  and  Main  Upper  Devil 
creek,  in  C 33-43,  there  is  an  opening  on  this  seam  now  fallen 
in  which  makes  its  height  above  the  Conglomerate  150  feet. 

On  the  headwaters  of  Upper  Devil’s  creek  east  of  Bear 
Pen  this  coal  has  been  opened  on  Joe  Allen’s  and  Wm.  Tyler’s 
land  in  C 32-43  and  on  W.  E.  Terrills’  in  C 31-42.  It  is  report- 
ed 60  inches  thick  with  partings  at  the  Tyler  opening  and  is 
there  150  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Conglomerate.  At  the 
Terrill  opening  which  is  125  feet  above  the  Conglomerate  it 
is  51  inches  thick  with  two  shale  partings  each  8 inches  thick, 
the  one  10  inches  and  the  other  26  inches  from  the  base. 

Across  the  divide  on  the  drainage  of  Shackelford  Fork, 
this  coal  has  been  opened  on  the  farms  of  Widow  Fortner, 
Arthur  Taulbee,  Wm.  Terrill,  Henry  Chillis,  A.  J.  Holland, 
Bene  Allen  and  Lee  Taulbee.  All  of  these  are  about  in  C 31 
and  32,  42  and  41. 


KENTUCKY  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 


83 


Rene  Allen’s  bank  in  at  head  of  hollow  in  C 32-41  gives 
the  following  section  for  the  coal. 


Coal  . 
Shale 
Coal 
Shale 
Coal  . 


inches 
10 
2 to  4 
12 

9 

12 


A little  over  the  line  in  the  Salyersville  Quadrangle  the 
coal  shows  up  in  about  30-39  on  Gardner  Fletcher’s  place  33 
inches  thick  with  a 2-3  inch  parting  12  inches  from  the  base. 
It  is  here  120  feet  above  the  Conglomerate. 

In  C 31-43  there  is  a bloom  of  a coal  in  the  gap  going  over 
on  to  drainage  of  Stillwater  creek  which  is  probably  this  same 
seam.  It  is  about  120  feet  above  the  top  of  the  nearest  Con- 
glomerate exposure. 

In  C 32-44  there  is  also  a bloom  of  a coal  which  may  belong 
to  this  seam,  and  again  in  C 33-45  in  the  eastern  edge  of  Camp- 
ton.  The  bloom  of  a coal  near  head  of  Trace  Fork  in  C 32-45 
is  at  an  elevation  above  tide  (about  990)  to  indicate  that  it 
may  also  belong  to  this  seam,  though  the  openings  further 
east  on  Nancy  Center’s  land  (in  C 31-45)  and  on  Steve  Poses’ 
land  (in  C 31-45)  may  be  on  this  coal.  The  latter  is  110  5 A. 
T.  and  measures  30  inches  thick  at  the  entrance.  It  appears 
to  be  about  115  feet  above  the  Conglomerate. 


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